ABSTRACT
Assessment is an essential part of any curriculum, including that of dentistry. Assessment of knowledge is currently done through examination and thus examination is an inherent part. Examination and assessment of knowledge is done so as to promote the students to the next level. Currently, two types of methods are used for the assessment and performance of students, subjective and objective. Recently objective methods are preferred over 24 subjective methods. Student’s performance can be accessed via relevant feedback. During summative examinations at the end of course, the assessment now has been supplemented by the formative ones. The skill assessment is subjective in nature as well as lacks possibility for direct assessment of the presentation of skills by the evaluator. METHODS50 students from I BDS class, were selected randomly. These students were subjected to conventional OSVV in the subject of dental anatomy and dental histology. The viva voce was taken using predesigned templates having 10 questions with various difficulty levels - easy, difficult and very difficult. The questions were from must know, desirable to know as well as nice to know areas. Same students were subjected to modified OSVV with prior consent and after IEC clearance was obtained. The scores were obtained from the students after viva voce with modified templates and modified difficulty levels. The study was done during second PCT as well as preliminary examinations. The scores were compared. RESULTSThere were 5 students who scored high in modified OSVV pattern during formative (II PCT) and 6 students who scored high during summative (preliminary) examinations. There was no significant difference in the mean scores between the two methods. CONCLUSIONSStudents who scored high marks when subjected to the modified OSVV were rapid learners and modified pattern of OSVV can be useful to improve the score of students.
ABSTRACT
Association between fixed orthodontic therapy and enamel decalcification causing periodontal disease and enamel decalcification is a known problem of orthodontic treatment. The root cause of this is the fact that brackets provide an ideal environment for bacteria to accumulate and multiply. Hence modifying the surface of brackets with some photocatalytic antibacterial substance could help in prevention of this side-effect. The current study was thus planned to evaluate the anti-adherence of bacteria to photocatalytic silver coated brackets for the prevention of white spot lesions. METHODSAfter obtaining ethical clearance from the institutional ethics committee, 40 metal brackets of upper central incisor were taken. These brackets were divided into group 1 & group 2 each containing twenty brackets. Group 1 (control group) consisted of plain metal brackets while group 2 (experimental group) consisted of silver coated brackets. Both the groups were subjected to laboratory bacterial tests to assess the bacterial adhesion to brackets and then statistical analysis was done to obtain results. RESULTSSilver modified brackets showed around 25 % less adhesion of bacteria as compared with plain brackets. CONCLUSIONSModifying orthodontic brackets by coating them with photocatalytic silver could prove to be an innovative and effective method in prevention of white spot lesions after fixed orthodontic therapy.
ABSTRACT
Endodontic therapy is a treatment for the diseased pulp of a tooth. It will result in the removal of infection and the preservation from further microbial invasion. The principle constituents of an endodontic filling are- a core material “gutta percha” and “endodontic sealers”. All the current obturating techniques make use of the sealer to augment the seal endodontic filling material. It fills the space between canals. Endodontic sealer fills the space between the material as well as root dentin. Different types of sealers are available (resin sealers, ZOE sealers, mineral trioxide aggregate sealer, bio-ceramic containing sealers, glass ionomer containing sealer, calcium hydroxide containing sealer). Root canal sealers have different functions- antibacterial, lubricant for core material, to increase radio-opacity of core or as a filling material. Different types of microorganisms as well as microbial products cause pulpal as well as peri-radicular diseases. Microorganisms persist in the canal due to poor irrigation. We wanted to evaluate the various functions of different endodontic sealers. The perfect apical seal obtained by use of sealers is one which is stable and non-irritating in nature. It should also give us a smoother seal. Biocompatibility of root canal sealer has importance as it is placed directly in contact with the living tissue. Response of dental tissue help in the final outcome of successful endodontic treatment. Bond strength between canal walls exhibit through micromechanical retention. It helps in preventing the dislodgement of filling material. It ultimately helps in maintenance of interface between filling material and sealers. Push out test is the process to assess bond strength among filling material and sealers. Endodontic sealer has sufficient amount of radiopacity so that it can be clearly visualised among material and adjacent anatomical structures.
ABSTRACT
Many advancements have been done in the field of dentistry for resin composites applications. However, polymerization shrinkage stays a problem. Marginal gap and microleakage in between tooth cavity wall and restorative material is caused by forces of contraction, masticatory forces, polymerization shrinkage, poor adhesion, temperature variables, and inadequate moisture control. An impaired marginal seal resulting due to microleakage provides entry of oral fluids, ions, bacteria which causes recurrent caries, discoloration and hastening of marginal breakdown of restoration, hypersensitivity, pathology of pulp that would decrease the life of restoration. The purpose of restoring cavities by using nanohybrid and micro filled composite was to assess if it would eliminate or decrease microleakage in this in vitro study. We wanted to assess the effectiveness of nanohybrid and micro filled composites with regard to microleakage in class I cavity restoration.METHODSStandardized class I cavities were prepared over thirty teeth. The teeth samples were randomly distributed in to two groups based on composite used for restoration. Group A (n=15): Restored with nanohybrid composite followed by light curing. Group B (n =15): Restored with micro filled composite followed by light curing. The samples were stored in a 1% chloramine beta-hemihydrate solution for a day and then thermocycling procedure was performed. The samples were soaked in 2 % methylene blue for a day and sectioning of samples was done through the center of restoration using a diamond disk and analysed for methylene blue dye penetration with a stereomicroscope in 12X magnification. Scoring was done based on the criteria of a 0-4 scale.RESULTSChi square test was used for performing statistical analysis. No significant difference in the microleakage score between nanohybrid and micro filled composite was seen (p = 0.338).CONCLUSIONSIn this study both groups showed microleakage. However, nanohybrid composite resin showed better marginal adaptation of restoration as compared to micro filled composite resin.