Effect of teledentistry on the oral health status of patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment at the first three follow-up visits.

BACKGROUND: As the prevalence of such oral diseases as dental caries and periodontal problems increases during fixed orthodontic treatment, patient education is an essential aspect of any such treatment. Two methods have been proposed for this purpose: direct education in a clinic (the conventional method); and education using social media, such as the Telegram application (a type of teledentistry). OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of teledentistry as an educational tool on the oral health status of patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment at the first 3 follow-up visits. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty participants were enrolled from patients whose fixed orthodontic treatment was to begin at a dental clinic in Tehran, Iran. They were randomly assigned to one of 2 trial arms. At the end of the 1st appointment, one of the groups was educated in person about maintaining oral hygiene during treatment, and an educational clip was sent to the members of the other group via the Telegram application. During the next 3 follow-up appointments, plaque index (PI), bleeding on probing (BOP), and gingival color and consistency were analyzed for each patient to assess their oral hygiene compliance during treatment. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference in PI and BOP between the 2 groups at the 3rd and 4th appointments; however, gingival color and consistency did not differ significantly with regard to the manner of education (p > 0.05). Patient age did not have a considerable effect on the oral health status in either group (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Teledentistry is an effective and efficient method to improve oral hygiene in patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment.

Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Odontogenic Cysts: Is There Any Impression on Clinical Outcome?

BACKGROUND: The recent scientific reports have shown that angiogenesis can affect biological behavior of pathologic lesions. OBJECTIVE: Regarding unique clinical outcome of Odontogenic keratocyst (OKC), the present study was aimed to compare angiogenesis in Odontogenic keratocyst and Dentigerous cyst (DC). METHOD: In this experimental study, tissue sections of 46 samples of OKC and DC were stained through immunohistochemical method using Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) antibody. VEGF expression was evaluated in epithelial cells, fibroblasts and endothelial cells. The average percentage of stained cells in any samples was categorized to 3 groups as follows: SCORE 0: 10% of cells or less are positive. SCORE 1: 10 to 50% of cells are positive. SCORE 2: more than 50% of cells are positive. Mann-U-Whitney, T-test and chi-square was used for statistical analysis. RESULT: The average of VEGF expression in 24 samples of DC was 20.2% and in 22 samples of OKC was 52.6%, respectively. The average of VEGF expression in these two cysts had statistical significant differences. (PV= 0.045). There was significant statistical differences between two cysts in the terms of VEGF SCORE (PV= 0.000). OKC samples had significantly higher SCORE for the purpose of VEGF incidence than DC. Also, there were no differences between VEGF expression in epithelial cells of two cysts (PV= 0.268) there were significant statistical differences between two cysts in terms of endothelial cell staining. The endothelial cell staining was significantly higher in OKC than DC (PV= 0.037%). CONCLUSION: Regarding higher expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth factor in OKC than DC, it seems that angiogenesis may have great impression on clinical outcome of OKC.

Micronucleus assay of buccal mucosa cells in smokers with the history of smoking less and more than 10 years.

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Cigarette smoking causes severe health problems such as cancer. Micronuclei are structures that present after genomic damages to the cells. The present study is aimed at evaluating the micronucleus assay of buccal mucosa cells in smokers who smoked less or more than 10 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study has been a historical cohort study. The smokers were divided into two groups: First group include individuals with a smoking history less than 10 years (14 samples) and second group with the smoking history of more than 10 years (26 samples).The control group consisted of nonsmokers (23 samples). The exfoliated buccal mucosa cells were scrapped using spatula and were spread over the glass slide. Feulgen method was used for micronucleus staining. 500 cells per subjects were counted. The presence of micronucleus in all subjects and the mean percentage of micronucleus in nuclei were determined. Data were subjected to statistical analysis using T-test. RESULTS: The mean number of micronucleus of buccal mucosa cells in nonsmokers, first group (smoking history less than 10 years) and second group (smoking history more than 10 years) was 0.94±0.94, 1.89±0.62 and 2.01±0.93 respectively. The difference was statistically significant (P<0.002). Considering the number of micronuclei of the buccal mucosa cells, the difference between groups 1 and 2 was not significant (P<0.6). The mean percentage of micronucleated cells in nonsmokers, group 1 and group 2 was 2.26±2.17%, 13.9±5.90 and 14.3±7.97, respectively. The difference was statistically significant (P<0.001).The difference between the percentage of the cells with micronucleus in smokers with a smoking history of less or more than 10 years was not significant (P<0.6). CONCLUSION: The mean number of micronuclei in buccal mucosa cells of the nonsmokers was significantly lower than that of the smokers. However, the mean number of micronucleus of buccal mucosa cells in smokers who smoked more than 10 years was higher than smokers who smoked less than 10 years. Increasing the smoking duration could heighten the frequency of micronucleus; however, the difference was not significant.