Permanent Anterior Teeth Fractures and its Impact on Oral Health-Related Quality of Life among 8-15-Year-Old Schoolchildren of Chennai City - A Cross-Sectional Survey.

BACKGROUND: Tooth fracture is not only a distressing experience on the physical level of a child, but it may also have an effect on emotional and psychological levels. This study aims to assess the permanent anterior teeth fractures and their impact on Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) among 8-15-year-old schoolchildren of Chennai city. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty schools were randomly selected by stratified random sampling. All school-going children aged 8-15 years were invited to participate. A total of 7247 children were screened and 628 children with permanent anterior teeth fractures were included. Data were collected using Child Oral Health Impact Profile questionnaire. In addition, questionnaire addressing sociodemographic data and factors influencing permanent anterior teeth fractures were recorded. Descriptive statistics was performed to characterize the sample. One-way analysis of variance and Tukey's honestly significant difference post hoc tests was applied for multiple pair-wise comparisons. RESULTS: The prevalence of permanent anterior teeth fracture was found to be 8.7%. The type of school had highly significant (P < 0.001) influence on the impact of permanent anterior teeth fracture on OHRQoL with negative OHRQoL among the corporation schools. The study participants of corporation schools had negative OHRQoL with significant difference in oral health well-being (P < 0.001) and self-image (P = 0.014). CONCLUSION: All the children reporting with tooth fractures had negative OHRQoL. The study stresses the importance of promoting good oral health-care practices to prevent oral disease in children and to meet children's unmet oral health-care needs.

Association between maternal exposure to tobacco, presence of TGFA gene, and the occurrence of oral clefts. A case control study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between maternal tobacco use or exposure, presence of variant transforming growth factor alpha (TGFA) gene, and the occurrence of oral clefts. METHODS: The present case control study was carried out for 5 months in three tertiary government hospitals in Chennai city with a sample of 100 children (50 children with non syndromic cleft and 50 control) aged 0-24 months. The details of maternal risk factors during the period of gestation were recorded from case and control parents through a pre-validated questionnaire, following which blood samples from 92 children (46 case and 46 controls) based on consent were obtained and evaluated for TGFA gene polymorphism. RESULTS: A significant number of case mothers (48%) were exposed to secondhand smoke during the period of gestation than their control counterparts (24%) (P = 0.01) with an odds ratio of 2.46 (95% CI = 0.99-6.08). Electrophoresis of the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) product revealed the presence of the homozygous C1C1 allele in all the tested 92 samples with no homozygous C2C2 allele or heterozygous C1C2 allele. CONCLUSION: The present study has highlighted the role of passive smoking in the causation of non syndromic oral clefts in a developing country like India; however, the involvement of TGFA in causing the same disease in an ethnically Dravidian Indian population is uncertain. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The study has brought into forth the role of passive smoking in the development of oral clefts thereby warranting an effective public health policy to tackle the same.

Comparative evaluation of salt water rinse with chlorhexidine against oral microbes: A school-based randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Mouth rinse that is natural, safe, cost-effective, readily available and culturally acceptable is required as an adjunct to routine tooth brushing to combat dental diseases. The aim of present study was to compare the effectiveness of salt water rinse with chlorhexidine mouth rinse in reducing dental plaque and oral microbial count. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of salt water against S. mutans, L.acidophilus, A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis was determined by Macrobroth Dilution method. Thirty participants were randomly allocated into study group (salt water rinse) and control group (chlorhexidine rinse). Baseline DMFS, defs and plaque scores were recorded. Baseline unstimulated saliva samples were collected by spitting method. Oral prophylaxis was done after baseline sample collection. The participants were advised to rinse the allocated mouthrinse for 5 days under the supervision of co- investigator. Pre- rinse (after oral prophylaxis) and Post -rinse (5th day of mouthrinsing) plaque examination and salivary microbial analysis was done. The collected salivary samples were immediately transported and streaked on the respective media for microbial count. RESULT: MIC of salt water was 0.7 M for S. mutans, A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis and 0.8M for L. acidophilus. There was statistically significant reduction in the plaque scores, salivary S. mutans, L. acidophilus, A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis count from baseline, pre-rinse to post-rinse in the study group (p=0.001) and control group (p=0.001). Salt water was as effective as chlorhexidine in reducing dental plaque (p = 0.19) and A. actinomycetemcomitans (p = 0.35) count and while chlorhexidine was superior against S. mutans (p = 0.001), L. acidophilus (p = 0.001) and P. gingivalis (p =0.001). CONCLUSION: Salt water rinse can be used as adjunct to routine mechanical plaque control for prevention of oral diseases.