Aloe vera for Dry Mouth Denture Patients - Palliative Therapy.

INTRODUCTION: Xerostomia (dry mouth) is dryness of the mouth which is due to reduced salivary flow. Lack of adequate saliva causes discomfort in denture wearing patients and decreases retention of dentures. The ability of saliva to wet the tissue surface is one of the most important properties for oral comfort and retention of complete denture in dry mouth patients. AIM: This study was conducted to evaluate and compare the wetting ability of therapeutic Aloe vera saliva substitute and commercially available Aqwet saliva substitute on heat-polymerized acrylic resin. Contact angle of liquid saliva substitute was considered as an indicator of wettability. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Aloe vera liquid (Aloe vera - Group I) and Aqwet saliva substitute (Aqwet - Group II) were compared in terms of their wetting ability. Forty samples of heat-polymerized acrylic resin were fabricated and divided into two groups with 20 samples in each. Advancing, receding contact angles and angle of hysteresis were measured using contact angle goniometer and DSA4 software analysis. Mann-Whitney U test was applied for statistical analysis of the study. RESULTS: The mean advancing angle and receding angle of Group I (Aloe vera) was smaller than Group II (Aqwet). Mean angle of hysteresis of Group I (Aloe vera) was higher than Group II (Aqwet). Mann-Whitney U test revealed that there is no significant difference in contact angles between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Wetting ability of Group I (Aloe vera) saliva substitute was found to be better compared to Group II (Aqwet) on heat-polymerized acrylic resin.

The influence of implant abutment surface roughness and the type of cement on retention of implant supported crowns.

OBJECTIVES: To provide relative data on the retentive characters of the commonly used cements on different implant abutment surfaces. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 20 implant abutments were divided into 2 groups. Ten implants were unaltered and ten were air borne particle abraded with 50µ aluminium oxide. Three luting agents (Tempbond, IRM and ImProv) were used to secure the crowns to abutments. All the crowns were removed from the abutment with an Instron machine at 0.5mm per minute and tensile bond strengths were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed using Anova, Paired t-test and Post-Hoc tests. RESULTS: IRM showed the highest mean tensile strength among the three cements when used with treated and untreated implant abutment surfaces. Change in the abutment surface roughness had no effect on the mean tensile bond strength of TempBond and IRM cements, whereas ImProv cement showed reduced tensile strength with sandblasted surface. CONCLUSION: When increased retention is required IRM cement with either sandblasted or milled surface could be used and when retrievability is required cements of choice could be either TempBond or ImProv.

Bruxism: a literature review.

Parafunctional activities associated with the stomatognathic system include lip and cheek chewing, nail biting, and teeth clenching. Bruxism can be classified as awake or sleep bruxism. Patients with sleep bruxism are more likely to experience jaw pain and limitation of movement, than people who do not experience sleep bruxism. Faulty occlusion is one of the most common causes of bruxism that further leads to temporomandibular joint pain. Bruxism has been described in various ways by different authors. This article gives a review of the literature on bruxism since its first description.

Comparative analysis of rationale used by dentists and patient for final esthetic outcome of dental treatment.

AIM: To compare and evaluate the perceptions of esthetics among dentists and patients regarding the final esthetic outcome of a dental treatment. BACKGROUND: Esthetics is a matter of perception and is associated with the way different people look at an object. What constitutes esthetic for a particular person may not be acceptable for another. Hence it is subjective in nature. This becomes more obvious during the post-treatment evaluation of esthetics by dentist and the concerned patient. Opinion seldom matches. Hence, the study is a necessary part of the process of understanding the mind of dentist and patient regarding what constitutes esthetics. TECHNIQUE: A survey has been conducted by means of a questionnaire consisting of 10 questions, on two groups of people. First group consists of 100 dentists picked at random in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, India. Second group consisted of 100 patients who required complete denture prosthesis. The second group was divided into two subgroups A and B. Subgroup A consisting of 50 men and subgroup B consisting of 50 women. In each subgroup 25 patients were selected in age group of 40 to 50 and 25 patients were selected in the age group of 50 to 60. The questionnaire was given to both the groups and asked to fill up, which was then statistically analyzed to look for patterns of thought process among them. RESULTS: Results were subjected to statistical analysis by Student's t-test. CONCLUSION: Perceptions of esthetics differs from dentist who is educated regarding esthetic principles of treatment and a patient who is not subjected to such education. Since, the questions were formulated such that patients could better understand the underlying problem, the final outcome of survey is a proof that dentists need to take into account what the patient regards as esthetics in order to provide a satisfactory treatment. CLINICAL AND ACADEMIC SIGNIFICANCE: The current study helps the dentist to better educate the patient regarding esthetics so that patient appreciates the final scientifically based esthetic outcome of treatment. It also helps the dental students to understand the underlying patient's thought process regarding esthetics.

Comparative evaluation of few physical properties of epoxy resin, resin-modified gypsum and conventional type IV gypsum die materials: an in vitro study.

AIM: To compare and evaluate few physical properties of epoxy resin, resin-modified gypsum and conventional type-IV gypsum die material. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the present study, dimensional accuracy, surface detail reproduction and transverse strength of three die materials like epoxy resin (Diemet-E), resin-modified gypsum (Synarock) and conventional type-IV gypsum (Ultrarock) are analyzed. For dimensional accuracy, master die (Bailey's die) is used and calibrations were made with digital microscope. For surface detail reproduction and transverse strength, rectangular stainless steel master die (Duke's die) was used and calibrations were made with Toolmaker's microscope and Instron universal testing machine respectively. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on the means and standard deviation for groups of each test. RESULTS: The results of the study showed statistically significant difference among these materials in dimensional accuracy, surface detail reproduction and transverse strength. CONCLUSION: Epoxy resin exhibited superiority in dimensional accuracy, surface detail reproduction and transverse strength and is nearest to the standards of accurate die material.