Characteristics of patients who visit the dental emergency room in a dental college hospital

BACKGROUND: Emergencies in dentistry can be classified as medical and dental. Medical emergencies occur mainly during dental treatment in patients with a systemic disease. Dental emergency departments are largely divided into dental emergency rooms located in dental college hospitals and medical emergency rooms located in medical institutions. This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of and provide help to dental emergency patients in a dental hospital. METHODS: Overall, 1806 patients admitted to a dental emergency room at Yonsei University Dental Hospital for 1 year were included. The data collection period was from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015. An investigator reviewed medical records from the electronic medical record (EMR) system and radiographs. RESULTS: The patients were 1,070 men and 736 women. The sex ratio was 1.45:1. The commonest age group was of 0–9 years, including 451 (25.0%) patients, followed by 20–29 years, including 353 (19.5%) patients, and 30–39 years, including 277 (15.3%) patients. Of the 108 patients transferred to the Severance emergency department, 81 had trauma, 19 were in pain, 4 were bleeding, and 4 had other complaints. Among chief complaints, 1,079 patients (60.3%) had trauma, 564 (31.5%) had pain, and 75 (4.2%) had bleeding. Twenty-three cases (1.3%) were caused by temporomandibular disorder (TMD). CONCLUSION: Dentists should be able to adequately assess patients in a dental emergency room and treat trauma, pain, and bleeding.

Effects on postoperative nausea and vomiting of nefopam versus fentanyl following bimaxillary orthognathic surgery: a prospective double-blind randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) frequently occurs following bimaxillary orthognathic surgeries. Compared to opioids, Nefopam is associated with lower incidences of PONV, and does not induce gastrointestinal tract injury, coagulopathy, nephrotoxicity, or fracture healing dysfunction, which are common side effects of Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. We compared nefopam- and fentanyl-induced incidence of PONV in patients with access to patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) following bimaxillary orthognathic surgeries. METHODS: Patients undergoing bimaxillary orthognathic surgeries were randomly divided into nefopam and fentanyl groups. Nefopam 120 mg or fentanyl 700 µg was mixed with normal saline to a final volume of 120 mL. Patients were given access to nefopam or fentanyl via PCA. Postoperative pain intensity and PONV were measured at 30 minutes and 1 hour after surgery in the recovery room and at 8, 24, 48, and 72 hours after surgery in the ward. The frequency of bolus delivery was compared at each time point. RESULTS: Eighty-nine patients were enrolled in this study, with 48 in the nefopam (N) group and 41 in the fentanyl (F) group. PONV occurred in 13 patients (27.7%) in the N group and 7 patients (17.1%) in the F group at 8 hours post-surgery (P = 0.568), and there were no significant differences between the two groups at any of the time points. VAS scores were 4.4 ± 2.0 and 3.7 ± 1.9 in the N and F groups, respectively, at 8 hours after surgery (P = 0.122), and cumulative bolus delivery was 10.7 ± 13.7 and 8.6 ± 8.5, respectively (P = 0.408). There were no significant differences in pain or bolus delivery at any of the remaining time points. CONCLUSION: Patients who underwent bimaxillary orthognathic surgery and were given nefopam via PCA did not experience a lower rate of PONV compared to those that received fentanyl via PCA. Furthermore, nefopam and fentanyl did not provide significantly different postoperative pain control.

The relationship between masseter muscle thickness measured by ultrasonography and facial profile in young Korean adults

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between masseter muscle thickness, facial morphology, and mandibular morphology in Korean adults using ultrasonography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ultrasonography was used to measure the masseter muscle thickness bilaterally of 40 adults (20 males, 20 females) and was performed in the relaxed and contracted states. Facial photos and panoramic radiography were used for morphological analyses and evaluated for correlations with masseter muscle thickness. We also evaluated the correlations of age, body weight, stature, and body constitution with masseter muscle thickness. RESULTS: In the relaxing, the masseter was 9.8±1.3 mm in females and 11.3±1.2 mm in males. In the contracted state, it was 12.4±1.4 mm in females and 14.7±1.4 mm in males. Facial photography showed that bizygomatic facial width over facial height was correlated with masseter muscle thickness in both sexes in the relaxed state, and was statistically significantly correlated with masseter muscle thickness in males in the contracted state. In panoramic radiography, correlations were found between anterior angle length and posterior angle length and masseter muscle thickness in females, and between body length and posterior angle length, between anterior angle length and body length, between ramal length and body length, and between body length and condyle length in males. CONCLUSION: Masseter muscle thickness was associated with facial and mandibular morphology in both sexes, and with age in males. Ultrasonography can be used effectively to measure masseter muscle thickness.

Analytical Performance of Bio-Rad D-100 on a Hemoglobin A1c Assay

BACKGROUND: Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is considered a marker useful for the follow-up and diagnosis of diabetes and implies the importance of reliable assay methods that are traceable to a reference method. We evaluated analytical performance of a new high-performance liquid chromatography system for the HbA1c assay: D-100 from Bio-Rad Laboratories (USA). METHODS: We evaluated precision, linearity, and carry-over of D-100, according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute's guidelines. Comparative analysis of D-100 with Integra 800 (Roche Diagnostics, Germany) and Capillarys 3 (Sebia, France) was conducted. Additionally, we evaluated the throughput of the three instruments. RESULTS: Precision of low- and high-concentration controls in D-100 showed a CV of less than 1%. The linearity was excellent (R²=0.999) in the range of 3.51-18.7%, and carry-over was not observed. HbA1c results of D-100 (n=144) showed good correlation with those of Integra 800 (r=0.993) and Capillarys 3 (r=0.996). The % bias between D-100 and Integra 800 or Capillarys 3 was within the allowable range at all 3 medical decision levels (5.7%, 6.5%, and 10.0%). Elapsed time in the analysis of the first sample by D-100 was shorter than that of Integra 800 (2.4 vs. 11.1 minutes), but subsequent samples took more time (0.8 vs. 0.3 minutes per sample). CONCLUSIONS: D-100 showed reliable analytical performance with good precision and linearity, minimal carry-over, and acceptable comparative characteristics relative to other instruments. D-100 is expected to be useful for clinical measurements of HbA1c for diabetes diagnosis and theranostics.