Digital Form for Assessing Dentistry Undergraduates Regarding Periodontal Disease Associated with Cardiovascular Diseases.

Background: Throughout recent years, periodontal disease (PD) has been linked to innumerable medical systemic conditions, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD). This association could negatively impact oral health, so the knowledge of dentists who have graduated must follow modern dentistry in order to promote oral health, mainly in systemically compromised patients. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine and evaluate the knowledge level of dentistry undergraduate students (DUS) regarding the correct periodontal treatment and management of cardiac patients with PD. Methods: This cross-sectional and populational-based study was conducted between March and June 2022 in northern Brazil. A total of 153 DUS received an anonymous digital form (Google Forms Platform) using a non-probabilistic "snowball" sampling technique. The digital form was composed of four blocks of dichotomous and multiple-choice questions. After signing the informed consent term, DUS were divided into three groups according to their period/semester in dentistry graduation during the study time (G1: 1st period/semester; G2: 5th period/semester and G3: 10th period/semester). A total of 25 questions referring to demographic, educational and knowledge data about the dental and periodontal care of cardiac patients with PD were asked, and all data were presented as descriptive percentages and then analyzed using the Kappa test. Results: From a total of 153 (100%) DUS, the sample was mostly composed of 104 (68%) female participants, with an average age of 21.1 years. Regarding basic knowledge, the majority of answers were no, with G1 being higher than G2 and G3. Regarding clinical questions, 1247 (58.3%) answers were no. Additionally, regarding fundamental clinical questions 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 14, the majority of G1, G2 and G3 answered no, demonstrating a major lack of knowledge. Conclusions: In our study, DUS demonstrated a low knowledge level of the dental and periodontal care of cardiac patients with PD and its bi-directional link. Thus, according to our results, an improvement in dentistry educational programs regarding periodontal medicine must be implemented.

Prevalence and Genotyping of HPV in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Northern Brazil.

Highly oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) is well known to be associated with and a risk factor for various types of oral carcinomas such as oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The aim of this study was to evaluate and describe the HPV-induced OSCC prevalence and genotyping in the city of Belém, northern Brazil. This cross-sectional study features 101 participants who attended an oral pathology referral center in a dental college looking for diagnoses of oral lesions (OL). After signing the consent term and meeting the inclusion criteria, all participants went through a sociodemographic and epidemiological questionnaire. Then, OL were collected by excisional or incisional biopsy depending on OL size; after that, OL tissues were preserved in paraffin blocks to histopathological diagnoses. Afterwards, paraffin blocks were divided into benign and malignant/premalignant lesions based on the classification of potentially malignant disorders of the oral and oropharyngeal mucosa. Then, the paraffin blocks had DNA extraction performed by the ReliaPrep FFPE gDNA Miniprep method in order to identify HPV DNA of high oncogenic risk and low oncogenic risk. Then, the viral DNA was amplified and typed using the Inno-Lipa genotyping Extra II method, and the collected data were analyzed by Chi-square and G-tests. In total, 59/101 (58.4%) OL were malignant/premalignant lesions, of which OSCC was the most prevalent with 40/59 (67.7%) and 42/101 (41.6%) benign lesions. The most common area of OL incidence was upper gingiva 46/101 (45.5%). Regarding HPV DNA detection, approximately 27/101 (26.7%) had positive results; of these, 17/59 (28.8%) were malignant/premalignant lesions, and the most prevalent genotypes detected were 16, 18, 52 and 58, while among benign lesions, 10/42 (66.6%) had HPV-positive results, and the most prevalent genotypes detected were 6, 11 and 42. Age range was the only risk factor with a significant association between HPV and OSCC presence (p-value: 0.0004). A correlation between OSCC and oral HPV among analyzed samples could not be demonstrated in our small cohort.