Trends, awareness, and attitudes of patients towards replacement of missing teeth at University College of Dentistry

This study was carried out among the out patients seen in the University College of Dentistry [UCD] with the aim to assess their trends and attitudes towards tooth replacement. Patients with at least one missing tooth [excluding the third molars] were included. The study was conducted using a questionnaire. Majority of the patients [n=180] did not have previous experience of any sort of prosthesis. Although most of the patients preferred to have fixed partial denture [n=195] some of them responded that they would be comfortable with removable partial denture [n=33]. Low felt need was the most common reason among this study group for delay in seeking dental replacement, while 5% patients were in the post extraction healing period. Dentists were found to be the most important d riving force for patient awareness regarding replacement of teeth. Majority of the patients agreed that dental visits should be regular. Some patients [8.8%] did not appreciate the importance of restoring teeth while 62.5% of the patients had the perception that artificial teeth were not equivalent to natural teeth

Comparison of paralleling and bisecting angle techniques endodontic working length radiography

This cross sectional comparative study was carried out to compare paralleling technique [PT] and bisecting angle technique [BAT] for working length radiography in endodontics. A sample of 120 patients was selected through purposive sampling. The patients were divided into two groups depending on the arch to be radiographed namely Group A for maxillary arch and group B for patients with mandibular teeth requiring endodontic radiography. Each patient underwent two radiographs, one with each paralleling and bisecting angle techniques respectively giving a total of 240 radiographs. Endo Ray II film holder [Dentsply] was used for PT while a hemostat was utilized for BAT. The results showed a higher accuracy in terms of decreased procedural errors with paralleling technique as compared to bisecting angle technique for teeth in maxillary arch [p<0.05], whereas for mandibular arch there was insignificant difference [p>0.05] between the two techniques. Overall paralleling technique was found to have better results than bisecting angle technique, during endodontic working length radiography

Patterns of partial edentulism among armed forces personnel reporting at armed forces institute of dentistry Pakistan

Aim of this study was to determine the frequency of occurrence of various patterns of partial edentulism in armed forces personnel seen at the department of Prosthodontics, Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry [AFID]. Utilizing convenience sampling 1000 patients were selected. Kennedy's Classification was utilized after applying Applegate's rules to record the patterns of partial edentulism. Partial edentulism in maxillary arch, was found in 32.6% patients, while 36.8% personnel had partial edentulism in mandibular arch. The remaining 30.6% of samples had missing teeth in both arches. Kennedy's Class III was found to be the most prevalent pattern in both maxilla and mandible. Kennedy's Class III modification 1 was the most common modification encountered in both arches. Highest percentage of combination pattern found was maxillary Class III opposing mandibular Class III. A higher frequency of partial edentulism among the younger age groups found in this study was alarming and is suggestive of the need to create awareness among armed forces health care system for timely prevention of diseases causing tooth loss

Two successful cases of root perforation repair using mineral troxide aggregate

Root perforation repair has historically been an unpredictable treatment modality with an unacceptably high rate of clinical failure. Inadequacy of the repair materials has been a contributing factor to the poor outcome of repair procedures. Mineral trioxide aggregate [MTA] is a relatively new material that is being successfully used to repair perforations. This article reports the findings of research done on MTA used as material to repair root perforations and presents two clinical cases where MTA was successfully utilized to repair root perforation