Journal of Oral Health and Oral Epidemiology
Volume:13 Issue: 1, Winter 2024

This corrects the article “Evaluation of dental students’ opinions in Kerman about presenting and teaching dental trauma courses and their self-assessment of treating trauma patients” published on September 29, 2023. In the original version of this article, the accepted date was misprinted unintentionally. The corrected date should be as follows: Accepted: September 1, 2023. This has now been corrected in the PDF version of the article.

The studies in the literature have focused on the biomechanical and neurophysiological aspects of cervical and temporomandibular joint function. Addressing the cervical spine correlation with the temporomandibular joint may lead to long-term improvement in the derangement. This study desired to deduce the effectiveness of deep neck muscle strengthening exercises on jaw motion and clicking sounds in anterior disc displacement with reduction of the temporomandibular joint.

This controlled clinical trial was conducted using a single-blinded design in a tertiary care teaching hospital affiliated with The University of Lahore- from March 2020 to January 2021. A count of 68 patients were enrolled each with 34 patients. The inclusion criteria were being 18–50 years old, suffering from temporomandibular joint pain and disc displacement with reduction, medical referral for temporomandibular disorders by a dentist or a maxillofacial surgeon, and having symptoms for more than one month before the first treatment. The exclusion criteria were having a tumor, fracture, or trauma in recent medical history, systemic, rheumatic diseases, degenerative changes, and history of surgery of the cervical spine or temporomandibular joint. The control group (Group A) was only given temporomandibular joint mobilization and soft tissue release. The Intervention group (Group B) did neck strengthening exercises in addition to the temporomandibular joint mobilization. The subjects were assessed twice.

To analyze the data, SPSS version.21 was used. To assess the frequency of qualitative factors like clicking, the chi-square test was employed. The mean scores of quantitative factors such as mandibular lateral deviation and maximal mouth opening were approximated between the two categories of subjects using the Mann-Whitney test. The findings demonstrated that there was no change between the groups' pre- and post-treatment means for jaw mobility and clicking sounds. Nonetheless, the Intervention group's mandibular lateral deviation significantly improved (P-value ≤0.037)*. 

The findings revealed that neck strengthening exercises in addition to routine physical therapy of the temporomandibular joint do not affect clicks and mobility between the two groups. The exercises were found out to be effective only in improving the lateral deviation of the mandible.

The oral health of children is adversely affected by mouth breathing. One of the main reasons for mouth breathing in children is adenoid hypertrophy. Consequently, this study aimed to assess the relationship between oral health and adenoid hypertrophy among children aged 8–15 years in the city of Babol.

This case-control study was conducted on 100 children. The case group included 50 children with adenoid hypertrophy. An Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) specialist examined the children clinically and referred them to the oral and maxillofacial radiology clinic. The study control group included 50 healthy children. To assess the size of the adenoidal tissues and the dimensions of the upper airways, we assessed the linear cephalometric measurement Ptm-ad2. The evaluations consisted of the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT and dmft for permanent and primary teeth, respectively) index, mean periodontal pocket depth, plaque index (PI), and papillary marginal attached (PMA) index.

Fifty samples had adenoid hypertrophy. The prevalence of dental caries was significantly higher in children with adenoid hypertrophy compared to healthy children (DMFT was 4.10 ± 2.09 and 2.06 ± 0.97, and dmft was 3.52 ± 3.34 and 1.48 ± 1.24, in the case and control groups, respectively). Furthermore, the periodontal indices of the case group were significantly greater than those of the control group (periodontal pocket depth was 2.93 ± 0.35 and 1.98 ± 0.23, PI was 2.73 ± 0.26 and 1.13 ± 0.29, and the PMA index was 5.71 ± 0.82 and 2.55 ± 0.48, in the case and control groups, respectively).

In the case group, there was a statistically higher prevalence of dental caries and gingival inflammation than in the control group. Therefore, periodical dental visits and preventive dental procedures are recommended for children with adenoid hypertrophy.

Although oral health indicators have shown significant improvement in recent decades, oral diseases are still considered a common chronic disease with high prevalence in society. These diseases are considered important community health issues due to the effects they have on people's lives and the effects their treatment may have. Numerous studies have shown an association between anxiety and decreased oral health indicators, with anxiety disorders being the most common childhood psychiatric disorders. This study attempts to determine the link between anxiety, quality of life and oral health in children. 

This study was performed on a random sample of 600 children aged 4–6 years in kindergartens in Tehran, and finally, 443 were evaluated. The Preschool Anxiety Scale (PAS) questionnaire measured children's anxiety, and the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (F-ECOHIS) questionnaire was used for quality of life. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to evaluate the simultaneous effect of anxiety and oral health variables on the life quality related to oral health. The causal relationship between the variables were investigated and confirmed with this tool and the X2/df, GFI, CFI, NNFI(TGF), and RMSEA indices. 

The reliability of the PAS and F-ECOHIS questionnaire was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to investigate the concurrent effects of anxiety and oral health on OHRQOL. Two SEM models were selected for our purpose. Both models were statistically suitable, but the model in which anxiety directly impacted dmft and directly or indirectly influences oral health-related quality of life was clinically justified and was selected as the final model. 

Anxiety directly affects oral health (DMFT) and has a direct and indirect effect on the quality of life related to the oral health of preschool children.

This study compares two pain ratings that patients use to indicate how uncomfortable they are during bonding and the collection of orthodontic registration material.

Two hundred people, ages eleven to twenty, participated in the study; 125 were female and 75 were male. The participants' discomfort levels were assessed during bonding operations and the initial registration material collection using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and the Facial discomfort Scale (FPS). During the first registration material collection in oral photography, dental impressions, X-rays, bonding operations, lip retractor insertion, polishing, acid and sealing, and bracket application, pain levels were recorded. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the data between groups, while the Wilcoxon and Friedman tests were used to analyze the data within groups. The gathered data were statistically analyzed with a significance threshold of 5%.

There was a statistically significant positive correlation between the VAS and FPS scales when evaluating pain during intraoral photography, the dental impression procedure, X-rays, lip retractor insertion, polishing, acid and sealing, and bracket bonding (0.537<r<0.734; p=0.001). A statistically significant positive connection was also discovered when the gender difference was included (0.261<r<0.42; p=0.001).

Similar information was obtained during the orthodontic initial registration and bonding procedures using two different pain assessment instruments. It's also believed to make it possible to compare research using different pain scales.

A representative sample in health surveys ensures the findings can be reliably generalized to the target population. Conducting oral health surveys through telephone interviews has become more common, and ensuring respondent randomness is necessary for any health survey. Several techniques have been suggested. This paper reports applying the last-birthday method as a within-household random selection method for the first time in an oral health telephone survey in Iran.

This study was part of a larger research in which adult citizens' self-perceived oral health was compared with an objective dental examination. The last-birthday method randomly selected a household member for each attempted landline number, asking the primary respondent to select an eligible family member with the most recent birthday. The selected respondent was then either contacted or replaced with another respondent from the same household based on the research criteria.

Of the 6745 called numbers, 1771 were invalid, 3129 did not respond, 364 were not households, and 771 declined to be interviewed. Finally, 710 respondents entered the random selection procedure, of which 53 had no eligible family member to select. The sample selection method's difficulty caused 36 refusals. Of the 621 selected final respondents, 30 could not be contacted or refused upon introduction. The total percentage of "selection" and "post-selection” dropouts that could be attributed to the sample selection method was 7.41%. Based on the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR Response Rate 1) guidelines, the minimum response rate for the interview was 13%, and the AAPOR Response Rate 3 was 39.6%. In all characteristics except for employment status (P = 0.488), the final participant's demographic characteristics were significantly different from those of the city population (P < 0.0001).

Oral health science can make use of the last-birthday selection strategy. This technique seems to obtain a reasonably representative sample through a respondent-friendly selection process in telephone surveys.

Lymphoma and multiple myeloma account for a small but significant proportion of all oral malignancies. Oral manifestations of hematopoietic malignancies are sometimes diagnosed with delay as most of them mimic various other diseases like osteomyelitis and periodontal diseases. We present five unusual, challenging cases of head and neck lymphomas and one case of oral myeloma.

In this article, we report six cases, five cases of oral lymphomas, and one oral multiple myeloma case. All cases were initially diagnosed by oral histopathologists and then referred to specialists for further treatment.

We report these cases to understand these lesions better, as we saw some worrisome delays in their diagnoses. We aim to raise awareness about these hematopathological diseases among general dentists.

It is crucial for the multidisciplinary team members to thoroughly examine the oral cavity for any worrisome lesions like these, as they might be an initial sign of a systemic disease. Pathologists must also be aware of the pitfalls in the interpretation of immunohistochemical sections and the immune profile of a tumor.

stainless-steel crowns (SSCs) are usually used for deciduous teeth with more than two destroyed surfaces. Selecting the suitable SSC, in terms of proximal fit and marginal fit, has usually been challenging for practitioners. The current study compares the deciduous molar dimensions in the SCCs with the dimensions of these teeth given in the textbook.

The dimensions of 3M, Kids Crowns, and KTR SCCs were measured using a digital caliper. Utilizing SPSS 26 software, the data was examined and compared to the table of standard sizes of primary teeth using one-sample t-test, ANOVA, and Tukey's test. P-values less than 0.05 were considered significant.

The study showed no significant difference in upper first molar SSCs in the occlusal-cervical dimension in Kids Crowns (P = 0.14) and 3M (P = 0.078) and in the mesiodistal dimension in Kids KTR (P = 0.083) and Crowns (P = 0.22). There was no significant difference in lower first molar SSCs in the occlusal-cervical dimension in Kids Crowns (P = 0.14) and in the bucco-lingual dimension in 3M (P = 0.91) and KTR SSCs (P = 0.09). There was no significant difference in the upper second molar SSCs in the occlusal-cervical dimension of Kids Crowns (P = 0.28) and 3M (P = 0.32). There was no significant difference in lower second molar SSCs in the occlusal-cervical dimension in Kids Crowns (P = 0.27) and KTR (P = 0.07), in the mesiodistal dimension in Kids Crowns (P = 0.22), KTR (P = 0.22), 3M (P = 0.59) and in the bucco-lingual dimension of KTR (P = 0.26) and 3M (P = 0.78).

SSCs and teeth had the highest conformity in the occlusal-cervical dimension and the lowest conformity in the mesiodistal and bucco-lingual dimensions. SSCs had the highest conformity with the lower molars.