Comparative 3D study of dental arches in children with microcephaly associated with congenital Zika syndrome, orofacial cleft, and without craniofacial anomalies.

INTRODUCTION: The dentist participates in the treatment protocol for craniofacial anomalies in individuals from the first months of life. OBJECTIVE: to compare in a retrospective cohort study the morphometry of the edentulous palate of children microcephaly associated with congenital Zika syndrome (CZS), unilateral complete cleft lip and alveolus (UCL), and without craniofacial anomalies. METHODS: Forty-five digitized dental molds composed the sample divided into three groups: CZS; UCL; and without craniofacial anomalies (control group). The following measurements were evaluated: intercanine and intertuberosity distances; dental arch length, area, volume, and mismatch superimposition. Parametric and non-parametric tests were applied (α = 5%). RESULTS: CZS group showed the smallest means of intercanine distance and area than those of the other groups (p = .001 and p = .010, respectively). The dental arch length was greater in the CZS group than in the control group (p = .020). The evaluation of the mismatch superimposition showed that the CZS group had the lowest means of maximum distance and root mean square than that of the UCL group (p = .025 and p = .005, respectively). CONCLUSION: CZS participants tended to palatal narrowing, while UCL individuals had parameters similar to those of the control group, despite the alveolus defect.

Salivary proteomic profile of dogs with and without dental calculus.

BACKGROUND: Dogs' saliva is a complex mixture of inorganic and organic constituents, rich in proteins. Therefore, knowing the saliva composition of these animals is extremely important to identify the presence of proteins that may be involved in physiological and pathological mechanisms of their oral cavity. The present study aimed to characterize the proteomic profile of saliva from dogs with and without dental calculus. RESULTS: Saliva samples were collected from 20 dogs. Before the collection, a visual clinical examination was performed and 8 subjects (40%) did not present any signs of dental calculus, while 12 (60%) presented dental calculus. After saliva collection, the samples were submitted to protein quantification (mBCA), and then they were prepared for analysis by nLC-ESI-MS/MS. A total of 658 unique proteins were identified, of which 225 were specific to dogs without dental calculus, 300 were specific to dogs with dental calculus, and 133 were common to all subjects. These proteins presented functions including transportation, immune response, structural, enzymatic regulation, signal transduction, transcription, metabolism, and some proteins perform functions as yet unknown. Several salivary proteins in dogs with dental calculus differed from those found in the group without dental calculus. Among the abundant proteins detected in periodontal affected cases, can be highlighting calcium-sensing receptor and transforming growth factor beta. Enrichment analysis reveled the presence of Rho GTPases signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS: This research identified salivary proteins, that should be further investigated as potencial biomarkers of chronic periodontits with dental calculus formation in dogs.

A Biobank of Stem Cells of Human Exfoliated Deciduous Teeth: Overview of Applications and Developments in Brazil.

A biobank is an organized collection of biological human material and its associated information stored for research according to regulations under institutional responsibility, without commercial purposes, being a mandatory and strategical activity for research, regenerative medicine, and innovation. Stem cells have largely been employed in research and frequently stored in biobanks, which have been used as an essential source of biological materials. Stem cells of human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) are stem cells which have a high multipotency and can be easily obtained. Besides, this extremely accessible tissue has advantages with respect to storage, as the SHED obtained in childhood can be used in later life, which implies the necessity for the creation and regulation of biobanks. The proper planning for the creation of a biobank includes knowledge of the material types to be stored, requirements regarding handling and storage conditions, storage time, and room for the number of samples. Thus, this study aimed to establish an overview of the development of a SHED biobank. Ethical and legal standardization, current applications, specific orientations, and challenges for the implementation of a SHED biobank were discussed. Through this overview, we hope to encourage further studies to use SHED biobanks.