Dental Records and what they can Reveal about Tobacco Use Intervention Practices.

INTRODUCTION: Tobacco use prevention and cessation is a practice required by every dentist. It is a fundamental tenet in the fight against tobacco. Fundamentally, the first step of any tobacco use prevention practice includes the identification of tobacco users and a history of their habit. This information is recorded in the dental record of the patient and provides a baseline for the assessment and counseling of the patient in regards to their oral health. OBJECTIVES: To investigate if tobacco use is regularly recorded in dental records of patients attending King Abdulaziz University Faculty of Dentistry (KAUFD). METHODS: Four hundred and ninety-four dental records were randomly sampled out of 31,323 records opened during the last three years. Dental records were assessed for information pertaining to the use of tobacco products, the type used, frequency and duration of tobacco use. RESULTS: Only 364 dental records showed that tobacco use information was asked (73%), and of these, only 2% were asked when they started, 4% were asked how often they use tobacco, and 16% were asked about the type of tobacco used. From the dental records sampled, the prevalence of tobacco use among the patients attending KAUFD during that period was 16%. CONCLUSIONS: In regards to tobacco use, all patients must be asked if they use tobacco in any form. Tobacco habits not only cause systemic diseases, but have direct detrimental effects on the oral cavity and greatly deter dental treatment. Dental records provide an excellent source of information for institutes and clinical offices, to monitor the practice of tobacco use prevention and cessation in its simplest terms.

Determination of Patulin and Ochratoxin A using HPLC in apple juice samples in Saudi Arabia.

Although, Patulin and Ochratoxin are produced by the same genera of molds, however, Patulin was the most extensively studied mycotoxins in apple juice and no reports have explored the presence of Ochratoxin A in the apple juice. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the presence of Patulin and Ochratoxin A in apple juice in Saudi Arabian market of Jeddah. Potato dextrose agar(PDA) was used to detect fungal contamination. Patulin was determined using HPLC equipped with a UV detector set at 276 nm. Also, HPLC with fluorescence detector was set at 333 and 420 nm as excitation and emission wavelength, respectively,was used for Ochratoxin A separation. All samples of apple juice were free from fungi and yeasts. The Patulin (PAT) was detected in only one type out of 17 types (5.88%) with a concentration of 152.5 ppb, (305%) increased compared with the maximum permitted level (50 ppb). However the occurrence of Ochratoxin A (OTA) in apple juice samples was discovered in 5 types out of 17 types (29.41%). The concentration of OTA ranged from 100 to 200 ppb reaching 5-10-folds compared with the permissible limits (20 ppb).