Impact of social media on the oral hygiene habits of children and adolescents: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

This study compared the impact of conventional oral health education with that of combined conventional and digital education on the oral hygiene outcomes and habits of children and adolescents. A double-blind, parallel, randomized controlled prevention clinical trial with 2 arms involved 80 students aged 10 to 17 years old. Students were randomly allocated to the control group (n = 40), which received conventional oral health education, or the experimental group (n = 40), which received both conventional oral health education and digital educational content through WhatsApp Messenger. Before the randomization of the groups and after the conclusion of the educational interventions, 2 examiners (κ > 0.7) who were blinded as to the groups evaluated the students and recorded the Plaque Index (PI); Gingival Bleeding Index (GBI); number of decayed, missing, and filled permanent teeth (DMFT); and number of decayed, missing, and filled primary teeth (dmft). The toothbrushing and flossing habits of the students were evaluated through questionnaires. The Fisher exact test, chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon test for paired samples, and sign test were applied to the data (α = 0.05). After 3 students in the control group were excluded because they received fixed orthodontic appliances, 37 students participated in the control group and 40 in the experimental group. Both groups presented a 30% reduction in PI (P < 0.001) after the interventions. The experimental group flossed significantly more frequently (P = 0.003) than the control group. The interventions had no statistically significant effect on GBI, and there were no significant differences in toothbrushing frequency after interventions or between groups. Both approaches to oral health education-conventional and digital-had a positive impact on the reduction of the PI, and the use of a smartphone app seemed to be an effective resource for providing oral health education to students. Trial registration: Registro Brasileiro de Ensaios Clinicos (ReBEC) No. U1111-1216-4770.

Effectiveness of two mouth rinses solutions in arresting caries lesions: a short-term clinical trial.

PURPOSE: To clinically evaluate the additional effect of adding 0.12% chlorhexidine digluconate (CHX) to a 0.05% sodium fluoride (NaF) mouth rinse in arresting active enamel caries lesions after 28 days. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A short-term double-blind clinical trial that included a total of 170 children, aged 11 to 15 years, with active smooth surface caries lesions (average 6.52) was conducted. The participants were enrolled and randomly distributed into two equal groups. Under the supervision of the research team, the children rinsed with a 15 ml solution of either 0.05% NaF (G1) or 0.05% NaF + 0.12% CHX (G2) for 1 min/day for 28 days. A clinical examination was carried out at the beginning and at the end of the study with children who underwent supervised tooth brushing. A calibrated examiner, who was unaware of the treatment given to each subject, examined all smooth surfaces dried with compressed air, isolated and illuminated with a reflector. The surface was considered active (A) or arrested (I). The frequency of A or I surfaces was evaluated by calculating the difference between the number found at the beginning and at the end of the trial. RESULTS: No significant differences were detected between the two groups with respect to caries lesion surfaces at baseline (6.49 +/- 4.45 - G1, 6.55 +/- 4.23 - G2, respectively), nor were differences found when age and gender wer taken into consideration. Arrestment proportions were 84.4% (G1) and 85.3% (G2) (P = 0.71; not significant). CONCLUSIONS: Although both solutions showed high arrestment proportions, the addition of CHX did not improve the arrestment capacity of the NaF mouth rinse.

Marginal leakage of polyacid-modified composite resin restorations in primary molars: an in vitro study

O estudo in vitro avaliou a infiltração marginal em molares decíduos restaurados com três materiais resinosos: as resinas compostas modificadas por poliácidos (Dyract AP – Dentsply e F2000 – 3M) e uma resina composta (Filtek Z 250) como grupo controle. Foram utilizados primeiros e segundos molares decíduos hígidos e as cavidades foram confeccionadas nas faces proximais, estendendo-se até a junção amelo-cementária. As restaurações foram realizadas após o condicionamento ácido total e a aplicação dos sistemas adesivos divididas em grupos de acordo com o sistema restaurador e o número de camadas dos respectivos agentes adesivos, ou seja, dois grupos para cada material restaurador. Os dentes foram armazenados em água destilada durante 7 dias, em seguida a ciclagem térmica com 500 ciclos (5º C e 55º C), com um minuto em cada banho. Em seqüência os dentes foram selados para a imersão na solução de azul de metileno a 0,5%, pH 7,2, por 4 horas. A seguir, os dentes foram submetidos a cortes no sentido mésio-distal para a avaliação do grau de penetração do corante. De acordo com os resultados após a análise estatística, os três materiais testados não impediram completamente a infiltração marginal na região cervical dos molares decíduos. Com relação à infiltração marginal a RCMP F2000 (4,06 e 3,95) apresentou os maiores graus de infiltração marginal do que os outros materiais Dyract AP (2,71 e 2,55) e Filtek Z250 (2,27 e 2,43). O número de camadas dos adesivos não influiu nos graus de infiltração dos três materiais estudados.

Marginal leakage of polyacid-modified composite resin restorations in primary molars: an in vitro study.

The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the marginal leakage in primary molars restored with 2 polyacid-modified composite resins (Dyract AP - Dentsply and F2000 - 3M) and a composite resin (Filtek Z250 - 3M) as control. First and second primary molars were used for preparation of cavities on the proximal surfaces, with extension of the gingival margin to the cementoenamel junction. Restorations were accomplished after total etching and application of the respective adhesive system, and were divided into groups according to the restorative system and the number of adhesive layers used. The teeth were stored in distilled water for 7 days, followed by thermocycling with 500 cycles at 5ºC - 55ºC, with one minute in each bath. Thereafter, teeth were prepared for immersion in 0.5% methylene blue solution for four hours. The teeth were sectioned in mesiodistal direction for assessment of dye penetration. According to the results of the Kruskal-Wallis test, the three restorative materials employed did not completely avoid marginal leakage at the gingival margin of primary molars. The marginal leakage of PMCR F2000 (4.06 and 3.95) displayed to be higher than the marginal leakage observed for the materials Dyract AP (2.7 and 2.55) and Filtek Z250 (2.25 and 2.43). The number of adhesive layers did not influence the degree of leakage of the three materials.