Association between masticatory function and cognitive impairment in the elderly / 대한구강보건학회지

Objectives@#With the surge in the elderly population, a growing interest in the prevention and treatment of geriatric diseases has been observed, along with awareness of the severity of problems associated with dementia, a cognitive impairment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between chewing ability and cognitive function among elderly people residing in a rural area. @*Methods@#A total of 162 elderly individuals, aged between 65 and 97 years, were surveyed. Trained examiners conducted interviews and assessments of chewing ability, on the basis of the number of remaining teeth, denture status, masticatory performance evaluating gum, ShadeEye-NCC measuring overall change in color of the gum (ΔE), and T-Scan® III analyzing distribution of occlusion patterns. Cognitive function was assessed using the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination-Dementia Screening (MMSE-DS) tool. @*Results@#Participants with a low score in the MMSE-DS were found to have distinguishably lower denture need, smaller number of remaining teeth, and lesser color change in the masticatory performance evaluating gum. In the cognitive impairment group, a tendency of having unilateral and anterior occlusion led to occlusal discomfort and chewing difficulties. @*Conclusions@#The study highlights important associations between chewing ability and cognitive function. The finding corroborates that tooth loss may be a predictive risk factor for cognitive impairment.

Association between masticatory function and cognitive impairment in the elderly / 대한구강보건학회지

Objectives@#With the surge in the elderly population, a growing interest in the prevention and treatment of geriatric diseases has been observed, along with awareness of the severity of problems associated with dementia, a cognitive impairment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between chewing ability and cognitive function among elderly people residing in a rural area. @*Methods@#A total of 162 elderly individuals, aged between 65 and 97 years, were surveyed. Trained examiners conducted interviews and assessments of chewing ability, on the basis of the number of remaining teeth, denture status, masticatory performance evaluating gum, ShadeEye-NCC measuring overall change in color of the gum (ΔE), and T-Scan® III analyzing distribution of occlusion patterns. Cognitive function was assessed using the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination-Dementia Screening (MMSE-DS) tool. @*Results@#Participants with a low score in the MMSE-DS were found to have distinguishably lower denture need, smaller number of remaining teeth, and lesser color change in the masticatory performance evaluating gum. In the cognitive impairment group, a tendency of having unilateral and anterior occlusion led to occlusal discomfort and chewing difficulties. @*Conclusions@#The study highlights important associations between chewing ability and cognitive function. The finding corroborates that tooth loss may be a predictive risk factor for cognitive impairment.

Job satisfaction level of dental staff at oral health centers for people with special needs / 대한구강보건학회지

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the job satisfaction level of the dental staff working at oral health centers for people with disabilities. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted with 73 dentists and dental hygienists working at seven regional oral health centers for people with special needs and dental hospitals for people with disabilities in Seoul. The questionnaire consisted of seven questions across two subscales: general satisfaction (4 questions) and satisfaction with wage and welfare (3 questions). The internal consistency of the questionnaire items was assessed using Cronbach's alpha (0.80). The responses were analyzed using a t-test with SPSS (version 23.0). RESULTS: Of the 73 dental staff members, 50% were dentists, 64% were women, and participants' average age was 30 years. In total, 58% of the participants had up to five years of experience working with people with disabilities, 42% of them worked full-time, and each participant treated an average of 200 patients with disabilities per month. The participants reported that their salary was relatively low. Dental hygienists had higher satisfaction level than dentists in the institution's welfare work. The more full-time workers answered, the more suitable they are for their work. CONCLUSIONS: The job satisfaction level of most professionals working in oral health centers for people with disabilities was not very high but they felt rewarded by their welfare work. It was inferred that it is necessary to examine and improve institutional support aspects such as human resource support. Increasing the number of centers in the central region is also needed.

Development of a New Approach to Determine the Potency of Bacille Calmette–Guérin Vaccines Using Flow Cytometry

OBJECTIVES: To circumvent the limitations of the current golden standard method, colony-forming unit (CFU) assay, for viability of Bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccines, we developed a new method to rapidly and accurately determine the potency of BCG vaccines. METHODS: Based on flow cytometry (FACS) and fluorescein diacetate (FDA) as the most appropriate fluorescent staining reagent, 17 lots of BCG vaccines for percutaneous administration and 5 lots of BCG vaccines for intradermal administration were analyzed in this study. The percentage of viable cells measured by flow cytometry along with the total number of organisms in BCG vaccines, as determined on a cell counter, was used to quantify the number of viable cells. RESULTS: Pearson correlation coefficients of FACS and CFU assays for percutaneous and intradermal BCG vaccines were 0.6962 and 0.7428, respectively, indicating a high correlation. The coefficient of variation value of the FACS assay was less than 7%, which was 11 times lower than that of the CFU assay. CONCLUSION: This study contributes to the evaluation of new potency test method for FACS-based determination of viable cells in BCG vaccines. Accordingly, quality control of BCG vaccines can be significantly improved.

Clinical Analysis of Metachronous Inguinal Hernia in Children

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify the incidence of metachronous contralateral inguinal hernia (MCH) and how early patients visit hospital upon discovering the presence of a lump on the contralateral side after initial hernia repair. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of 2,169 patients with inguinal hernia between January 2001 and January 2010 at a single institution. We evaluated the occurrence of MCH among 1,689 consecutive unilateral inguinal hernia (UIH) patients who were treated in our department. We also analyzed and compared the time lag (number of days) between noticing the presence of hernia and hospital visit between UIH and MCH. RESULTS: A total of 102 patients with MCH underwent initial UIH repair during the study period. The incidence of MCH was 6.0% and was slightly higher in males (6.7%) than in females (3.5%). The patients with left inguinal hernia (7.3%) had higher incidence of developing MCH than those with right (5.2%). When we analyzed the patients with MCH, 69.6% of them were under age 5 and 74.6% of MCH occurred within 2 years after initial UIH repair. Seventy-three percent of the patients with MCH, whose time lag was over one month when the first episode of UIH occurred, visited hospital later as MCH occurred. CONCLUSION: The incidence of MCH within the study period is 6.0%. It is slightly higher in males and in patients with left inguinal hernia. Most MCH occurred under age 5 and within 2 years after initial UIH repair.