Photodynamic Therapy-A Review

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a simple, minimally invasive treatment modality. It is also known as photoradiation therapy/phototherapy. Photodynamic therapy became more popular when international photodynamic association was formed by Thomas Dougherty in the year 1986. For the first time, it was used in dermatology in the year 1992, later in oncology (1995), microbiology since the year 1996 and itis also been used in dentistry. Three components namely light source, photosensitising agent and oxygen are utilised, which individually are harmless by itself, but when combined with oxygen they produce cytotoxic agents that have the ability to inactivate the tumour cells. This enables the selectivity of the diseased tissue. Main advantages of PDT are as follows: it is cost-effective, can be performed on out-patient basis and tissue heals by little or no scarring. PDT can be used in the treatment of actinic keratosis, Bowen's disease, superficial squamous cell carcinoma, and so on. Uses of PDT are increasing day by day and even nowadays research is going on to make use of nanoparticles in PDT to make it a more promising treatment approach.

Keratocystic Odontogenic Tumor of the Mandible – A Case Report

Odontogenic keratocyst has been renamed as KCOT (Keratocysticodontogenic tumour) by the World Health Organization in 2005. It is a benign intraosseous neoplasm of the jaw. They develop from the dental lamina remenants in the mandible and maxilla. KCOT is of particular interest because of its recurrence rate and aggressive behaviour. We are here presenting a case of KCOT in middle aged male patient.

Persistent radiographic cone cuts: A simple test to avoid the frustrating problem.

In routine dental radiography, one may encounter numerous radiographic errors, one of which may be partial images or cone cuts. These cones cut errors although may appear as simple problems, but often persistent cone cuts may be frustrating to the dental practitioner. In this study, our main aim was to find and solve the origin of the problem. This study was conducted with two different intraoral X‑ray machines with 12 inch length position indicating devices (PIDs) with four No. 2 intraoral films. If the problem is originated in the X‑ray machine, it can be solved by either tapping the collimator or by repositioning the PID.

Salivary alterations in type 1 diabetes mellitus patients: Salivary glucose could be noninvasive tool for monitoring diabetes mellitus.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an endocrine disease characterized by hyperglycemia, the pathogenic mechanisms by which hyperglycemia arises differ widely. Monitoring people with diabetes involve repeated estimations of plasma glucose either by finger pricks or by intravenous blood sampling. Hence, a noninvasive procedure for glucose measurements would be most precious under the circumstances. Aims: (1) To evaluate salivary glucose, total protein and albumin in type 1 DM (T1DM) patients and to compare with healthy nondiabetic control group. (2) To compare and correlate serum and salivary glucose levels in patients with T1DM. Study Design: This study consisted of 30 T1DM patients and 30 controls. All subjects were subjected to the serum glucose, salivary glucose, and total protein and albumin estimations. Materials and Methods: Glucose estimations were done by glucose oxidase‑peroxidase method, total protein estimations were done by Biuret method, end point and albumin estimations were done by bromocresol green dye method, end point. All the estimations were performed using an autoanalyzer. Statistical Analysis: Mean and standard deviation, Student’s t‑test and Karl Pearson correlation co‑efficient were calculated. All these statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS 11.5 software. Results: The results showed elevated levels of salivary glucose, total protein and albumin in T1DM group compared to healthy controls. Further the levels of serum and salivary glucose in T1DM patients were significantly correlated. Conclusion: There are definite changes in salivary composition with increased levels of salivary glucose, total protein and albumin in T1DM patients compared with healthy controls. Salivary glucose could be used for monitoring of DM.