فهرست مطالب marzieh pirzadeh-ashraf

 Assessment plays a great role in encouraging learning and evaluating whether the learning objectives have been achieved.

 This study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitudes of dental faculty members toward Patient Management Problem (PMP) and Multiple-Choice Question (MCQ) tests.

 In this descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study, a questionnaire was used to collect information from 54 faculty members of the dental school of Kerman University of Medical Sciences from 2019 to 2020. This study’s questionnaire consisted of two parts: the first part included demographic information, and the second included questions related to the faculty members' knowledge (10 questions) and attitudes (8 questions) towards MCQ and PMP tests. Cronbach’s alpha was considered to be 0.8. Content validity was assessed to determine the validity of the questionnaire. SPSS 20 was used to analyze the data, which included descriptive statistics such as percentage, mean, and standard deviation, as well as non-parametric tests such as the Kruskal-Wallis and linear regression tests.

 Fifty four dentistry faculty members returned the completed questionnaires in this study. Amongst them, 34(63%) were female, and 20(37%) were male. The mean scores of the knowledge and attitudes questionnaire toward the MCQ and PMP tests were 7.20 and 27.83, respectively. The Mean scores of the knowledge and attitudes had no significant relationship with age, gender, and teaching experience.

 Based on the results, it can be concluded that the dental faculty members had good knowledge about MCQs and PMPs structures and their strengths and weaknesses. There was also a good awareness of the shortcomings of the MCQ test in the assessment of clinical reasoning and the lack of transparency of this assessment tool.

Mandibular condyle fractures are the injuries to the head and face in various accidents, especially traffic accidents, which have a significant impact on the quality of life, jaw bone function, and beauty. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of condylar fractures in patients who referred to Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in Al-Zahra Hospital in Isfahan, Iran, during 2005-2016.

In this cross-sectional study, all patients with a maxilla fracture who were admitted to and treated at Al-Zahra Hospital in Isfahan from March 2005 to March 2016, were included. The data were collected through reading medical records. The prevalence of mandibular condyle fractures, demographic factors and epidemiological characteristics of patients, and performed diagnostic and therapeutic measures were recorded. Finally, the data were entered into SPSS software and analyzed using Fisher's exact test and chi-square test.

During 2005 to 2016, a total of 908 patients with jaw fractures were admitted to and treated in the hospital, of whom 214 (23.7%) patients were with mandibular condyle fractures, 121 (56.5%) with subcondylar fractures, 42 (19.6%) with bilateral fractures, 35 (16.4%) with condylar neck fractures, and 16 (7.5%) patients with condylar head fractures. Besides, the most common cause of fractures was traffic accidents with a frequency of 53.7%. The frequency distribution of dental involvement was significantly different in terms of the cause of fracture (P < 0.050); however, no significant difference was found in terms of the fracture site (P = 0.070).

According to the results of the present study, the prevalence of mandibular condyle fractures was more than 20%, which was associated with dental involvement in some patients. In addition, dental involvement had a significant relationship with the cause of fracture. Considering the effect of mandibular condyle fractures on the patients' quality of life, it is necessary to raise the level of public awareness about the causes and factors affecting maxilla fractures, especially condylar fractures, pay careful attention to initial examinations of traumatic patients, and do essential therapeutic measures for these patients.

One of the main complications of wisdom tooth surgery is postoperative pain. Thus, various methods have been used to reduce postoperative dental pain. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the methanolic extract of green tea and chlorhexidine gel on pain after impacted wisdom tooth extraction.
The participants in this double-blind clinical trial study were 72 patients aged 18 to 40 years who had impacted wisdom teeth in the mandible requiring surgery. To reduce postoperative dental pain, 5% green tea extract and 0.2% chlorhexidine gel were used for one week after surgery. The collected data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, frequency, and repeated measures ANOVA at a confidence level of 0.95.
The intensity of postoperative pain was at the highest level in both green tea and chlorhexidine gel groups on the first day and the pain intensity gradually decreased until the seventh day. The pain score reported by the patients using green tea was slightly lower than the pain score for the patients using chlorhexidine gel. However, there was no statistically significant intergroup difference in terms of the mean pain score (P = 0.21). There was a statistically significant difference between the groups that used green tea and chlorhexidine in terms of the number of analgesics used after surgery (P = 0.04). The mean number of analgesics used by the participants in the chlorhexidine group was higher.
Green tea extract can be recommended as an effective compound in reducing the severity of pain after impacted wisdom tooth extraction.

This paper reviews the most available data on the possible adverse effects of mercury released from amalgam that comprises of 50 % pure mercury, 35 % silver, 12-13 % tin, 2 % copper and to up1 % zinc, indium, platinum and palladium. Despite the possible health risks of mercury from amalgam on the nervous, respiratory, renal, and endocrine systems, it is however, used in some countries, even though Sweden, Denmark, Canada, the United States and Japan have long banned the use of amalgam. Amalgam restorations are one of the main mercury-releasing sources (1800-2700 tons per year) of contamination. During chewing, grinding, brushing of teeth, breaking down of amalgam and as the temperature of the oral environment increases mercury vapor will be released. The mercury vapor enters atmosphere, wastewater in dental offices, all systemic organs, especially the lower respiratory tract, can affect the renal-urinary system or enters breast milk, fetus and finally transmits to infants. The mercury level released from amalgam in blood, urine, hair and nail of large populations of dentists, dental assistants and pregnant women is higher than the safe levels. The main neurological and psychological effects of mercury vapor include in the form of sleep disorders, amnesia, mental disorders, hair loss, memory disturbances, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, kidney diseases, gene-toxicity, Alzheimer, Autism, skin allergies-cancer, infertility, low-birth-weight infants and heart diseases. In order to avoid further amalgam risks to the dentists, dental assistants, pregnant women and wildlife ecosystem, it is suggested to replace the dental amalgam by composite resins.

Teachers and healthcare providers play an essential role in raising the level of awareness and knowledge and serve as a model for different aspects of healthcare. Primary school healthcare providers with the necessary education could improve the oral health of the students. One of the methods for evaluating oral health is the assessment of periodontal indices. The Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPITN) is one of the most common indices for the assessment of gingival status. This study aimed to evaluate gingival health and its relationship with the level and the type of education and activity of healthcare providers in elementary schoolchildren. This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 800 elementary schoolchildren in Tabriz, Iran, in 2017. Students’ gingival status was assessed with the CPITN. The healthcare teacher-associated factors, also, were determined through a checklist including age, sex, education, and activity. The data were analyzed with SPSS software. Independent t-test and chi-square test were done. P < 0.05 was considered significant. 63.2% of students had a CPITN score of 1, 31.5% of students had a CPITN score of 0, and 5.3% of students had a CPITN score of 2. Students of teachers with higher academic education (P = 0.029) and with health-related education (P = 0.013) received lower CPITN scores and had better periodontal health. There was no statistically significant relationship between age, sex, and activity of the teachers and CPITN of the students (P > 0.05). There was a significant relationship between the gingival and oral health of students and the level of education of healthcare teachers and their health-related university education. We strongly recommend the continuing education program for the healthcare providers in elementary schools.

2019 (COVID-19) in dental care is high. Are people aware of this? How much they believe in transmission of this disease through dental care? The current study investigates this issue for the first time.

In this cross-sectional study conducted in April 25, 2020, a checklist was prepared for Iranian society, and they were asked to state their viewpoint about dental care and coronavirus transmission. This checklist consists of three simple questions; these questions were provided through a news site via a link for a one week. The answers were statistically analyzed and reported in table and diagram.

The answers of the questions were received from 1183 individuals. Eight hundred and twelve individuals (69%) believed that risk of transmission of coronavirus was about 70%-100% in case of not adhering to protective protocols. Eight hundred and eighty-two (75%) participants responded that they would not go to any dental clinic if they had oro-dental problems.

Majority of the people are aware of risk of transmission of coronavirus during performing dental treatments; therefore, dentists and dentistry staff should not reopen their offices in the pandemic condition of COVID-19. In case of reopening, they should delay the elective procedures and reduce days and hours of work.