Establishing an Eco-friendly Dental Practice: A Review.

Have dentists paused to think as to where the gloves, fixer, plastic waste, mercury waste, and X-ray films used in the clinic end up after disposal? Or considered how much water, electricity, and other resources our dental clinics use? Dentists need to take off their tinted glasses and consider the effects of their dental practice on the planet. Though individual dentists generate only small amounts of dental waste, the accumulated waste produced by the profession may have significant environmental impact. Thus the concept of “green dentistry” or “ecofriendly dentistry” has evolved. Eco-friendly dentistry is an environmentally friendly way of practicing dentistry by using techniques and equipment to reduce waste, conserve energy, decrease pollution, and reduce our carbon footprint. The incorporation of eco-friendly dentistry to the dental practice is not only effective from an environmental perspective but is cost-effective for the dentist too. If a dental practitioner is looking for a way to distinguish his clinic from the others, eco-friendly dentistry could be the answer. This article reviews the scientific literature on eco-friendly dentistry and suggests comprehensive steps to start an eco-friendly dental practice.

Sonoporation-Invigorating Sound in Dentistry: A Review.

Ultrasound (US), traditionally a diagnostic modality, and is emerging as a non-invasive therapy using local drug delivery and gene therapy. US exposure gene rates bio eff ects that result in shear stress, tissue heating, and cavitation eff ects, which are used in therapeutic applications. Sonoporation employs these eff ects to enhance delivery of large molecules such as DNA into the cells which is applied to muscle, head and neck tumor, in a cell disruption process called transformation and increases the permeability to bioactive materials, which is usually used in molecular biology and gene therapy. Nevertheless, it has recently become popular as a technique to enhance drug release from drug delivery systems. Th is review presents the main fi ndings in the fi eld of sonoporation, namely drug delivery, gene delivery and DNA transfer and its applications in dentistry.

Interface de comunicação entre o Cirurgião-Dentista e o computador / Interface of communication between the dentist and the computer

A necessidade de introduzir os sistemas de computação em Odontologia levou-nos a desenvolver uma interface de comunicação entre o Cirurgião-Dentista e o computador em substituição ao teclado convencional. Através de um monitor repetidor de microprocessador incrementado por uma máscara de infravermelho e colocado na cabeçeira das cadeiras odontológicas permite que o Cirurgião-Dentista faça as suas anotações clínicas sem o uso do teclado ou qualquer outro instrumento mecânico ou eletrônico. As anotações são feitas pelo simples ato de apontar com as luvas calçadas, em qualquer momnento operatório