Minimum intervention oral care management of early childhood caries: a 17-year follow-up case report.

BACKGROUND: Early childhood caries (ECC) has a profound impact on a child's quality of life, and its management remains a challenge for the paediatric dentist, mainly because it depends on radical changes in the child/carers' daily behaviour and any dental treatment must be provided to very young child. CASE REPORT: This case report describes the on-going care of a 2-year-old child presenting with ECC and management until permanent dentition is complete. All patient-focused, teamdelivered care was delivered using the minimum intervention oral care framework, implementing non-invasive and minimally invasive preventive procedures. Throughout the care provided, oral and dental health education was reinforced in all visits. The child's mother was trained to perform effective biofilm control and dietary habits were adjusted, especially baby-bottle removal during sleep. The child was initially anxious and resistant towards any dental examination and clinical procedures. However, with effort from the oral healthcare team members, the patient became compliant, allowing the mother to perform suitable oral hygiene measures, as well as accepting the clinical procedures carried out by the paediatric dentist. The clinical procedures consisted of atraumatic restorations and fluoride varnish applications. During the subsequent years after the baseline treatment, follow-up visits included continued dietary and oral hygiene instruction with positive behavior reinforcement, fluoride topical applications and tooth-restoration complex maintenance with glass-ionomer cement where needed. Currently, the patient is 19 years old and has a stable, healthy permanent dentition. CONCLUSION: Understanding of the causes of oral diseases by the patients' caregivers, alongside with pragmatic practical guidance to maintain good oral health, can reduce the risk for acquiring future disease, since caries activity control is the basis for successful caries management.

Association between sense of coherence and oral clinical conditions in adults and the elderly: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study systematically reviews the evidence on the relationship between sense of coherence (SOC) and oral clinical conditions in adults and elderly people. METHODS: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences - Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS), Brazilian Dentistry Bibliography - Bibliografia Brasileira de Odontologia (BBO), Cochrane Library and grey literature were searched. Observational studies involving adults and elderly people that evaluated SOC with a valid instrument and investigated oral clinical measurements as outcomes were included. Two review authors independently assessed the studies for inclusion and extracted data. The quality of studies was assessed using the Downs and Black checklist. Meta-analysis used the random-effect inverse-variance method to obtain pooled odds ratios (OR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) for each oral clinical condition. RESULTS: From a total of 872 identified studies, ten observational cross-sectional and one longitudinal study were included. Nine studies were judged of medium or high risk of bias. Meta-analyses showed that adults and elderly people with higher SOC were less likely to present dental caries (OR 0.84; 95%CI = 0.73-0.96), periodontal disease (OR 0.58; 95%CI = 0.30-0.85), gingivitis (OR 0.54; 95%CI = 0.18-0.90) or dental biofilm (OR 0.65; 95%CI = 0.43-0.86). CONCLUSIONS: Current evidence suggests that better SOC is positively related to better oral clinical status in adults and elderly people. Longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Impact of orthognathic surgery on quality of life of patients with dentofacial deformity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of orthognathic surgery on the quality of life (QoL) of patients with dentofacial deformity. This systematic review was performed through the survey of observational studies that had evaluated the impact of orthognathic surgery on the QoL of patients with dentofacial deformity. The article databases included PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, LILACS, BBO, Cochrane Library, and grey literature. The risk of bias was analysed according to the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for quality assessment. The meta-analysis was performed considering the exposure before and after orthognathic surgery using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) versus the Orthognathic Quality of Life Questionnaire (OQLQ). A total of 2,263 articles were identified. Twelve studies remained in the qualitative synthesis and seven studies were included in the meta-analysis. The impact of QoL both preoperatively and postoperatively with the OHIP-14 questionnaire was 7.63 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.62 to 13.65; p = 0.01) and the OQLQ questionnaire was 20.53 (95% CI = 14.27 to 26.79; p < 0.0001). Overall impact of QoL was 16.01 (95% CI = 10.50 to 21.52; p < 0.0001), which showed that orthognathic surgery has an influence on the QoL. Orthognathic surgery generates positive impact on the QoL of patients with dentofacial deformity.

Does the addition of potassium nitrate to carbamide peroxide gel reduce sensitivity during at-home bleaching?

BACKGROUND: A systematic review with meta-analysis was conducted to assess the effect of adding potassium nitrate to carbamide peroxide gels on bleaching efficacy and on reducing the risk and intensity of tooth sensitivity. METHODS: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, LILACS, BBO, and Cochrane Library databases and the gray literature were searched. IADR abstracts, records of trials, dissertations and theses were also searched. The Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool was used to assess the quality of the studies. RESULTS: Six studies were included in the systematic review and most of them had unclear risk of bias for the key domains, and of these only five were included in the meta-analysis. The risk ratio (RR) for sensitivity was 0.93 (95% CI = 0.73 to 1.19, P = 0.56). The standardized mean difference for pain intensity was -0.10 (95% CI = -0.36 to 0.16, P = 0.45), and for colour change was 0.12 (95% CI = -0.22 to 0.46; P = 0.49). CONCLUSIONS: No significant differences were observed between the groups with and without addition of the desensitizer in the gel. The addition of potassium nitrate to carbamide peroxide gel did not reduce the risk and intensity of tooth sensitivity during at-home bleaching. Colour change was not influenced by the addition of potassium nitrate to the gel.

Efficacy of a Light-cured Tetracaine-based Anesthetic Gel for Rubber Dam Clamp Placement: A Triple-blind Randomized Clinical Trial.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of a new light-cured anesthetic gel for pain control in adults undergoing rubber dam isolation for the restorative treatment of noncarious cervical lesions (NCCLs). METHODS AND MATERIALS: This study was a randomized, split-mouth, triple-blind, controlled trial. The sample comprised 50 adults with at least one pair of NCCLs located in the same arch but on opposite sides. Simple randomization defined the tooth to receive the light-cured tetracaine-based anesthetic gel or the placebo gel. After cotton roll isolation, the gels were applied in the gingival tissue around the tooth with the aid of the applicator tip of a syringe, left in place for 15 seconds, and light-cured for 15 seconds. Then, a #212 clamp was positioned on the tooth. If the patient reported pain, the clamp was removed, the patient filled out a pain intensity form (a 0-10 visual analog scale [VAS] and a 0-4 verbal rating scale [VRS]) and an injectable anesthetic was applied before rubber dam isolation for the restorative procedure. The absolute risk, intensity of pain, and need for rescue anesthesia were analyzed by the McNemar test and the Wilcoxon signed rank test (α=5%). RESULTS: The odds ratio [OR] for pain (OR=3.5; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.1 to 14.6; p=0.03) showed lower reports of pain for the light-cured anesthetic gel. One in five patients will benefit from placement of the light-cured anesthetic gel. On average, pain intensity was one VAS unit lower in those using the light-cured anesthetic gel than in those using the placebo gel. For the VRS, the pain intensity for the light-cured anesthetic gel was 0.4 units lower than the pain intensity for the placebo gel (95% CI=-0.9 to 0.07). The OR for rescue anesthesia was 2.5 (95% CI=0.7 to 10.9; p=0.18). CONCLUSIONS: The light-cured, tetracaine-based anesthetic gel reduced the absolute risk of pain by 20% in NCCLs.

The smokeless tobacco habit and DNA damage: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the frequency of micronuclei or other DNA damage in the oral mucosa of adults that have smokeless tobacco habits compared to adults that not have these habits. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, LILACS, BBO and Cochrane Library and SIGLE. We also surveyed gray literature. We included only clinical trials that compare the frequency of micronuclei or other DNA damage in the oral mucosa of adults that have smokeless tobacco habits compared to adults that not have these habits. Quality assessments of the selected trials were evaluated by two independent reviewers, using the Effective Public Health Practice Project - (EPHPP) with modifications. RESULTS: After the database screening and removal of duplicates, 2574 studies were identified. After title screening, 172 studies remained, and this number was reduced to 25 after careful examination of the abstracts. The standardized mean difference of the frequency of micronuclei between groups was 1.88, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.40 to 2.36 (p < 0.00001). In all analyses heterogeneity was detected. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the heterogeneity of studies, the frequency of micronuclei was significant bigger in adults who have the smokeless tobacco habit when compared to those not have this habit. The same occurred with the frequency of binucleated cells, karyolisis and karyorrhexis.

At-home Bleaching With 10% vs More Concentrated Carbamide Peroxide Gels: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review to answer the following research question: Is at-home bleaching in adults with more concentrated carbamide peroxide (CP) gels as effective and safe as bleaching performed with 10% carbamide peroxide gels? METHODS AND MATERIALS: A comprehensive search was carried out in the MEDLINE via PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, LILACS, BBO, Cochrane Library and SIGLE, without restrictions. IADR abstracts (1990 to 2016) and unpublished and ongoing trial registries, dissertations and theses (ProQuest Dissertations and Periodicos Capes Theses Databases) were also searched. The risk of bias of the included studies was analyzed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool from the Cochrane Collaboration. We meta-analyzed the data using the random effects model to compare 10% CP and more concentrated CP gels in terms of color change (ΔSGU or ΔE) and risk and intensity of tooth sensitivity (TS). The quality of the evidence was rated using the GRADE approach. RESULTS: After the database screening, 182 articles remained, and this number was reduced to 17 after examination of the abstracts and/or full texts. Four articles were follow-ups of earlier studies, and thus we collected 13 studies. Ten studies were at unclear risk of bias, while three were at low risk of bias. Lower risk and intensity of TS was observed for 10% CP. The odds ratio for the risk of TS was 0.41 (95% CI 0.20 to 0.84, p=0.01), and the difference in means for TS intensity was 0.44 (95% CI 0.67 to -0.20, p=0.0003). No significant difference was observed in terms of color change in ΔSGU (difference in means 0.29; 95% CI 0.25 to 0.83, p=0.29) and for ΔE (difference in means -0.16; 95% CI 0.38 to 0.06, p=0.16). Except from the ΔSGU, for which the evidence was graded as low quality, the other outcomes were considered at moderate quality. CONCLUSIONS: At-home bleaching with 10% CP showed similar bleaching efficacy with lower risk and intensity of TS in comparison with more concentrated carbamide peroxide gels.

At-home vs In-office Bleaching: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to evaluate the risk and intensity of tooth sensitivity during in-office and at-home bleaching in adult patients. The efficacy of dental bleaching was also evaluated. METHODS: A comprehensive search was performed in the MEDLINE via PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature database, Brazilian Library in Dentistry, Cochrane Library, and System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe without restrictions. The annual conference of the International Association for Dental Research abstracts (1990-2014) and unpublished and ongoing trials registry were also searched. Dissertations and theses were searched using the ProQuest Dissertations and Periódicos Capes Theses databases. Only randomized clinical trials that compared the prevalence or intensity of tooth sensitivity during in-office and at-home bleaching in adult patients were included and studies that evaluated the efficacy of these dental bleaching techniques, in terms of shade guide units (ΔSGU) and in terms of color difference measured with a spectrophotometer (ΔE*). RESULTS: After the removal of duplicates, 1139 articles were identified. After title and abstract screening, 29 studies remained. Fifteen studies were further excluded, whereas 12 studies remained for qualitative analyses and 8 for the meta-analysis of the primary and secondary outcomes. No significant difference in the risk/intensity of tooth sensitivity or in bleaching efficacy was observed in the present study. CONCLUSION: In an overall comparison of at-home and in-office bleaching, no differences were detected, either regarding risk/intensity of tooth sensitivity or the effectiveness of the bleaching treatment. This comparison, however, does not take into consideration variations in the protocols (daily usage time, number of bleaching sessions, and product concentration) of the bleaching techniques in the studies included.

Clinical evaluation of three toothbrush models tested by schoolchildren.

AIM: The aim of this single-blind cross-over study was to compare the performance of three different toothbrush models in the control of dental biofilm and maintaining a healthy gingival condition. METHODS: Twenty-seven schoolchildren (aged 9-10 years) participated in the study. Three toothbrushes with different bristle arrangements were used: T1 - bristles on the same plane, straight arrangement; T2 - bristles on different planes, straight arrangement; T3 - bristles on different planes, straight and circular arrangement. The participants were then randomly divided into three groups for brushing with one of the three toothbrushes. Each experimental period lasted 15 days each, with three daily brushings and a 7-day washout interval was used between periods. The oral hygiene and gingival bleeding indices were recorded by a single, calibrated examiner blind to the brush used. Bristle wear was measured with a digital calliper at the end of each period. The data were analysed using parametric (anova and Student's t-test) and non-parametric (Cochran's Q and McNemar) tests. RESULTS: The toothbrushes achieved similar results (P>0.05) for the clinical parameters investigated. The three models exhibited a similar degree of bristle wear (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The arrangement of the bristles had little influence over the removal of biofilm and gingival conditions. Thus, there is no clinical justification for replacing conventional toothbrushes with more expensive models.