Survey of perceived stress-inducing problems among dental students, Saudi Arabia

This study was conducted to assess the problems related to stress encountered by Saudi dental students. One thousand and thirty questionnaires were distributed in four dental schools to all students from 2nd year level up to the internship level. The questionnaire contained 66 items organized into four categories: personal and administrative, theoretical, preclinical and clinical. The relationship between the demographic variables and students' academic performance with the investigated items was also assessed. The response rate was 53%. Saudi dental students showed high levels of perceived stress. The clinical training issues imposed the highest level of stress on the students. Some significant relationships between the investigated variables and the level of the perceived stress were found. Female students had higher mean overall problem scores compared to male students, and second-year students showed lower perceived problems compared to other students

effect of different temperature and concentration of sodium hypochlorite on the elimination of E. Faecalis using rotary instrumentation and intermittent passive ultrasonic irrigation

The purpose of this study was to compare the intracanal bacterial reduction using rotary instrumentation and intermittent passive ultrasonic irrigation [IPUI] with different concentrations and temperatures of NaOCl in different canal tapers. The root canals of seventy-two extracted single-rooted teeth were instrumented up to size No. 20k file and inoculated with E. faecalis. The teeth were divided into 5 experimental groups and one control. The root canals in the control group were shaped to a 0.04 taper using ProFile rotary files, with 1.5 minute of IPUI by NaOCl at a concentration of 2.5% and room temperature of 25°C for 30 seconds at a time at three intervals. In Group I, the canals were shaped to a 0.06 taper, and in Groups II and III - the temperature of NaOCl used was 37°C and 45°C respectively, and in Groups IV and V - the concentrations of NaOCl were 1% and 5% respectively. The canals were incubated at 37°C for 48 hours and bacterial samples were obtained using paper points and plated on agar plates. The zones of bacterial growth were measured and statistical analysis was performed. There was significantly more bacterial growth in the control group than in Groups I, II, III and V. Furthermore, there was a significant reduction in bacterial growth in Group V compared to Group IV. The result of this study showed that significant bacterial reduction in contaminated root canals could be obtained using intermittent passive ultrasonic irrigation combined with 2.5% NaOCl at 37°C in canals prepared to a taper of 0.06. In addition, complete bacterial eradication could be obtained using IPUI with 2.5% NaOCl at 45°C or 5% NaOCl at room temperature [37°C]

relathionship between facial references and mesiodistal wisth of maxillary anterior teeth among Saudi patients

A total of 439 Saudi patients were examined to determine if there is a correlation between the width of the maxillary anterior teeth and four anatomical facial references [the bizygomatic width, interpupillary distance, intraalar width and the width of the mouth]. All measurements done by using a modified Boley gauge, except the bizygomatic which was done by using a face bow. No correlation was found between the measurements for the population as whole, nor when the population was divided accordingly to sex