Pattern of partial edentulism among female patients seen at dental department of secondary care hospital, Lahore

Objective of this study was to determine of the frequency of occurrence of various patterns of partial edentulous in female patients reporting to dental department of secondary care hospital. Study was conducted on patients reporting to the dental Out Patient Department of Punjab Social Security Hospital, Manga Mandi, Lahore. Duration of the study was from January 2014 to January 2015. Kennedy's classification after applying Applegate's rules was used to record partial edentulisum in females. It was implemented by visual examination. Most dominant pattern noted was class III in maxilla with class IV being the least in number. With an increase in age, there is an increase in the Class I and Class II dental arch tendency and a decrease in Class III and class IV both in maxilla and mandible

Endodontic treatment of premolar with unusual anatomy and hypercementosis - case report

The purpose of this article was to report the successful nonsurgical endodontic management of mandibular first premolar with unusual anatomy and hypercementosis that was not reported elsewhere before and the challenges that were faced while determining the apical stop and preparation of apical part of the canal. A 25-year old Saudi male patient reported to referral hospital, with chief complaint of continuous pain in lower right quadrant for 2-3 days. His medical history was non-contributing. Clinical examination revealed a carious lesion on the mandibular right first premolar. The pain was of acute in nature but was not tender on percussion . Interestingly unique pattern of the canal system was found on periapical radiographs which resembled configuration ofVertucci type V and hypercementosis at the apex of the tooth. In this case while performing the endodontic treatment two very important challenges were faced. The first one was to determine the working length as the apices of tooth were hindered by hypercementosis and other one was to prepare the apical part of canal adequately without file separation that was obstructed by hypercementosis. Determination of working length was challenged as there was no definitive apex found on the digital radiographs and also variable readings were found with the apex locator, therefore the image was magnified and contrast with different color scheme with the help of digital imaging software [Vatech] in order to determine the radiographic apical preparation stop. Following the working length determination, the root canals were prepared with a crown down technique and the great resistance were noticed in apical part of canal due to hypercementosis, therefore the apical preparation was finished at proptaper finishing file [F 1] and obturated with lateral condensation. This case describes a mandibular premolar with an unusual anatomy and pathology. Coronally the single canal is divided into two canals in mid-root that terminate into separate apical foramens, but presence of excessive cementum at apex of root hindered the apex on radiographs, thus apical termination point of endodontic instrumentation was difficult to evaluate and also the apical part of canal was hard to prepare, owing to hyper cementation

Socioeconomic status and smokeless tobacco consumption in fishermen community of a coastal area of Karachi

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of Gutka consumption and its relationship with socioeconomic status among fisherman community of Costal area of Karachi. Methods: Socioeconomic status and information about Gutka habit was collected from 408 fisherman of Ibrahim Hyderi, a coastal area of Karachi from 15th July 2014 to 21st July 2014.The Kuppuswamy scale was used to measure socioeconomic status [SES]. A subject was considered to be belonging to higher socioeconomic status if the family head's education and the number of earning members were higher and the number of children and dependents was less since childhood in his or her household. Single investigator carried out structured face-to-face interview. Convenient sampling technique was used. Results: Out of 408 subjects, 326 regularly consumed Gutka, the common reasons for the habit were the co-workers' influence and to keep awake at work. The prevalence of the Gutka chewing habit was much lesser [25%] among the people belonging to higher social class when compared to the minimal or no improvement group [75%]. A majority of those free from the habit [73.7%] were belonging to the group, which showed improved educational attainment. Among those with good social status, the percentage of workers with high frequency of Gutka chewing and those with a longer duration of the Gutka chewing habit was low when compared to the lower social class group. Conclusion: This study based on data collected by questioner and analyzed on SPSS version 17.It is recommended that intervention in the form of primary and secondary smokeless tobacco use, prevention with association and careful planning including restricted resources available to be implemented efficiently

Multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa: a threat of nosocomial infections in tertiary care hospitals

To determine the resistance patterns of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to currently available anti-pseudomonal drugs and frequency of nosocomial infections caused by multi drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in hospitals. Clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were collected from patients admitted in different hospitals of Karachi between July 2012 and June 2013. The isolates were identified by conventional and Analytical Profile Index 20NE kit methods while the antibiograms of these isolates were determined by Kirby- Bauer disc diffusion method. Of the 204 isolates, 79[39%] were obtained from intensive care units. Overall, 135[66%] isolates belonged to men, and 35[17.2%] belonged to 10-15 year age group. The overall antibiogram pattern showed high resistance to commonly used antibiotics like Ofloxacin 125[61.3%], Cefepime 117[57.3%], Ceftazidime 110[53.9%], Amikacin 108[53%]. Of all the isolates, 129[63.2%] were considered multidrug resistant. The most effective antibiotics were Colistin, Polymyxin B and Meropenem. Increasing multidrug resistance among nosocomial pathogens is an alarming situation in a hospital setting and requires prompt management of these cases

Awareness and compliance about forensic dentistry among dental professionals of twin cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad: a questionnaire based study

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the awareness and compliance among dental surgeons working within twin cities about "forensic dentistry". Secondary objective was to evaluate the need of this specialty to be added in BDS curriculum as an independent subject or part of any major subject. This cross sectional Study was done in five teaching dental hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad which are affiliated with Dental colleges. 318 questionnaires consisting of fourteen basic questions were distributed in the dental colleges/ hospitals selected for the study. Data were then compiled, categorized and analyzed using SPSS. The response rate was 93%. Participants who had never studied forensic dentistry at any level were 99.32% and who never got any formal training in forensic dentistry were 100%. Individuals who opted to study forensic as a subject if opportunity of training was given within Pakistan were 60%. Forensic Dentist may play a major role in identification of those individuals who cannot be identified otherwise. Recent tragedies and situations have increased awareness concerning the importance of forensic dentistry in identification of victims especially in current era in Pakistan. Forensic dentistry must be introduced into the BDS curriculum effectively as a subject. Moreover, the likelihood of future disasters due to terrorism, earthquakes and other causes require the dental profession in Pakistan to be prepared for an ex-pended role

Evolutionary root defines the structural basis of high and low level vancomycin resistance in enterococci

D-alanyl-D-lactate [Dlac] and D-alanyl-D-serine [Dser] ligases respectively mediates high and low level vancomycin resistance among enterococci. To date, the evolutionary relationship of both ligases is largely unaddressed. Also poorly understood are the molecular differences in the magnitude of vancomycin resistance. To address the mention, we constructed the phylogenetic tree of all vancomycin resistance conferring ligases with the wild type ligases [Dala]. Multiple sequence alignment and tertiary structures of the structurally unresolved proteins were constructed by homology modeling. Phylogenetic tree revealed that both Dlac and Dser are profoundly different from Dala as a result of continuous selection pressure. Separate clustering of Dlac and Dser also highlighted the structural basis of molecule in maintaining different level of resistance as exhibited by the bacteria. This notion was further augmented as the functionally key region, omega loop [omega-loop], was found relatively more structured in only Dlac. Moreover, the critically active residue, His-243/244, was also noticed to be restricted in Dlac and found replaced by non polar residues in Dser. The present study not only provides protein structural explanation of the different intensities of vancomycin resistance among enterococci, but also presents yet another example for the scope of evolutionary science in biomedicine