Pupil diameter differentiates expertise in dental radiography visual search.

Expert behavior is characterized by rapid information processing abilities, dependent on more structured schemata in long-term memory designated for their domain-specific tasks. From this understanding, expertise can effectively reduce cognitive load on a domain-specific task. However, certain tasks could still evoke different gradations of load even for an expert, e.g., when having to detect subtle anomalies in dental radiographs. Our aim was to measure pupil diameter response to anomalies of varying levels of difficulty in expert and student dentists' visual examination of panoramic radiographs. We found that students' pupil diameter dilated significantly from baseline compared to experts, but anomaly difficulty had no effect on pupillary response. In contrast, experts' pupil diameter responded to varying levels of anomaly difficulty, where more difficult anomalies evoked greater pupil dilation from baseline. Experts thus showed proportional pupillary response indicative of increasing cognitive load with increasingly difficult anomalies, whereas students showed pupillary response indicative of higher cognitive load for all anomalies when compared to experts.

Influencing factors of paediatric dental anxiety levels in an undergraduate dental clinic.

AIM: To examine the nature of dental anxiety in paediatric patients, and to identify factors relevant to paediatric dental anxiety in a sample of 5 to 17 year-old children residing in Cairns, Australia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A convenient sample of 125 children, their parents and corresponding student practitioners were selected. Each was assessed with questionnaires. RESULTS: A higher level of dental anxiety was seen in children who were subject to radiographic examination as part of their treatment (b=0.462; p=0.012). Similarly, children of Asian ethnicity showed higher dental anxiety levels than their Caucasian counterparts (b=1.187; p=0.010). Finally, the childrens' overall dental anxiety levels decreased after being treated by student practitioners (t=2.311;df=124; p=0.022). CONCLUSION: Children experienced greater anxiety before receiving dental treatment than after. Treatment involving radiographic examination exacerbated dental anxiety and children of Asian descent were more anxious prior to receiving treatment. Further investigation is indicated.

Presencia de quistes de retención mucoso del seno maxilar detectados por radiografías panorámicas en pacientes de la ciudad de Temuco, Chile / Presence of mucus retention cysts in maxillary sinus detected by panoramic radiographs on patients of Temuco, Chile

Los quistes de retención mucoso son una patología muy poco frecuente en el seno maxilar, pero de fácil detección en radiografías panorámicas. El propósito de este estudio fue cuantificar los casos de mucoceles en senos maxilares durante un periodo de 5 meses, observando su frecuencia por edad y sexo. Se encontró una prevalencia de 2.06 por ciento en 339 radiografías revisadas, observándose mayor frecuencia en el género masculino y a una edad promedio de 30 años. Todos los casos no manifestaron sintomatología alguna.

Mucus retention cyst are a pathology with very low frequency in maxillary sinus, but easy to detect in panoramic radiographs. The aim of this study was quantify mucocele cases in maxillary sinus along five months, detecting their frequency by age and sex. It was found a prevalence of 2.06 percent, noting more frequently in male sex and with an average age of 30. All cases were presented without previous symptomatology.