Behavior and orofacial characteristics of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder during a dental visit.

ADHD is a neuropsychological disorder, affecting attention, impulsiveness and activeness. The study included 36 children with ADHD, 47 without, and two silent observers. A dental form, SNAP-IV and ADHDT symptom checklists were used. Statistically significant differences were observed in hospitalization histories, oral habits, tongue characteristics, and facial biotype. Differences in orofacial characteristics and behavior between the groups were confirmed.

Intra-oral findings and general health conditions among institutionalized and non-institutionalized elderly in Greece.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to record the findings from intra-oral examination and the general health conditions encountered in a group of Greek individuals 65 years of age or older. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study subjects were derived from the elderly attending 12 randomly selected community centres located in Athens and neighbouring municipalities, consisting the non-institutionalized study group and from the elderly living in three ecclesiastical nursing homes, consisting the institutionalized study group. The research data comprised information from the subjects' interviews, self-defined health status, medical records and intra-oral examination on the following variables: sex, age, general health condition, dentate or not, use of dentures and oral conditions. Fisher's exact two-sided test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Overall, 316 patients were examined; 120 male (38%), 196 female (62%), mean age 78 years (range: 65-99). Of those, 150 were non-institutionalized (59 male, 91 female) and 166 institutionalized (61 male and 105 female). The vast majority (90%) of the patients had at least one general health problem, for which they were taking daily medication. Twenty-three different medical conditions were recorded. The most frequent medical problems were hypertension (56%), cardiovascular problems (41%), depression/anxiety (39%), arthritis (18.5%) and visual problems (16%). The vast majority of the study patients (79%) were edentulous, while 33% were not wearing or using their dentures. Almost half of them (47%) had at least one oral condition. Twenty-seven different oral conditions were recorded. The most frequent oral findings were denture-induced stomatitis (17.2%), dry mouth (14.6%), atrophy of tongue papillae (10.5%), fissured tongue (9.8%) and haemangioma (6.8%). No cases of malignant lesions were observed. CONCLUSIONS: The present study confirms that in this particular age group, general health problems are frequent, variable, coexistent, necessitating the daily administration of multiple medications, while oral examination by a specialist is an essential part of the multidisciplinary medical care in this group of individuals.

Tongue fissures. A classification and comparative prevalence study among 825 European Caucasian and 605 Xhosa Negro school children.

Six distinct patterns of tongue fissuring have been observed: plication, central longitudinal fissuring, double fissures, transverse fissures arising from a central fissure (type "A"), transverse fissures without a central fissure (type "B") and lateral longitudinal fissures. Some tongues exhibited more than one pattern. There was a significant correlation between double fissures and central longitudinal fissuring (P less than 0.002) but not between other forms of fissuring. No significant relationship was found between the occurrence of atrophic lesions and the prese-ce of fissuring. Significant differences were found between the prevalences in Xhosa and Europeans for central longitudinal fissuring, double fissures and both types of transverse fissures but not for plication. No significant differences were found between males and females and in the age distribution for those with and those without each type of fissuring. It is suggested that most tongue fissuring seen in children should be considered variations in normal anatomy rather than an abnormality.