Assessment of oral health status of Santal (tribal) children of West Bengal.

CONTEXT: Santal is the third largest tribal community of India leading a very poor standard of education and life style. There are, however, few population-based studies evaluating the oral health status among Santal children in West Bengal. AIMS: The aim of the study was to evaluate the oral health status of Santal children of West Bengal by assessing prevalence of dental caries and inflammatory condition of gingival. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Santal children aged between 2-14 years (N = 1205) were randomly selected from different Santal communities of West Bengal for this study. The children were divided into three different groups according to dentition. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Caries for permanent dentition Decayed Missing Filled Tooth (DMFT), for deciduous dentition decayed extracted filled (def index was used. For mixed dentition DMF and def was measured respectively and then added together. Inflammatory condition of gingival was assessed by papillary marginal attachment (PMA) index. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: the data was analyzed statistically by SPSS software version 11. RESULTS: The study showed there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) between the average decayed extracted filled teeth (deft)/DMFT for boys and girls in deciduous and permanent dentition. But in mixed dentition this value for the boys was significantly higher (P < 0.001) than girls. 'Z' values were found to be non significant when compared mild, moderate and severe gingivitis between boys and girls in each dentition group, but mild gingivitis significantly increases from deciduous dentition to mixed to permanent dentition (P <0.001).

Low-dose acitretin in Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome: treatment and 1-year follow-up.

The Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome (PLS) is a rare, autosomal recessive disease that manifests with palmoplantar keratoderma and destructive periodontitis resulting in early onset periodontal breakdown in deciduous and permanent dentition. Management of this condition is difficult. Here we report one 11-year-old consanguineous Muslim boy suffering from PLS. After failing to get any benefit from methotrexate, three cycles of acitretin, each for 2 months, were given 1 month apart. In each cycle, acitretin (25 mg) was given every other day. At the end of the third cycle, treatment was stopped for 4 months to observe the extent of relapse. Thereafter, acitretin (25 mg) was given twice weekly for 4 months and then the patient was followed up for 1 year. Treatment with acitretin resulted in excellent improvement of periodontitis, increase in the alveolar bone height, and periodontal attachment. Improvement remained stable at the end of 1-year follow-up. There was excellent (>75%) improvement in keratoderma at the end of active therapy. Mild worsening of palmoplantar keratoderma was noticed whenever the drug was stopped. It improved when the drug was restarted. Other areas remained stable. At the end of 1-year follow-up, good improvement (50%) in palmoplantar keratoderma was achieved.

A cross sectional study of dermatoglyphics and dental caries in Bengalee children.

CONTEXT: Dermatoglyphic is the permanent imprint found in hands. Variations of dermatoglyphic patterns among the individuals have been noted. AIMS: To find out the dermatoglyphic pattern variations in dental caries between study group and the control group. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was done on 300 Bengalee children of Kolkata between the age group of 4-14 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The samples were divided into two groups; study group and control group. Dental caries were detected clinically using mouth mirror and probe in daylight. Ink was applied on palm and finger by pressure pad. Bilateral palm and finger prints were taken by placing the palm and fingers over glazed paper and applying pressure over palm. Finger and palm prints obtained were inspected by magnifying glass for the study of different dermatoglyphic parameters. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Analytical statistical method with the help of student's t-test was used to determine mean values and gender differences in the findings using SPSS version 11.0. RESULTS: The characteristic feature which shows significant increase in caries sample group were increased total finger ridge count (TRFC) and absolute finger ridge count (AFRC) on fingers, representing pattern size and types. ab count and tr count were significantly lower in male and female caries sample group compared with the control group. CONCLUSIONS: There was a significant difference between caries and control group in different patterns and number of "tri radii on fingers" in fingers, the percentage of patterns on all palmar areas, total number of triradii on palm and main line index. Perhaps more systematic larger samples consisting of different genetic population are necessary to verify the conclusion.