Patient care in the restorative clinic of a public dental school after COVID-19 lockdown

Aim: This study, with the aim of checking some of the changes in patients' daily habits and their reasons for needing restorative treatment was conducted at a public university immediately on return to attendance after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Methods: This survey consisted of interviews held by applying 2 questionnaires to students and patients. A single researcher collected data in all the restorative dentistry clinics at the university after the return to face-to-face activities in the period between 02/02/2021 and 07/30/2021. Data obtained by means of the questionnaires were submitted to descriptive analysis. Results: Ninety (90) participants answered the patient questionnaire. When considering possible associations between being in social isolation or not, significant values were found for changed type of diet (p=0.0011), frequency of eating (p=0.011) and toothbrushing (p=0.034). Data about 417 restorations were collected and among the reasons for restorative intervention, 33.03% were restoration replacement, 31.87% treatment of primary caries and 24.40% of dental wear/non-carious lesions. Conclusion: Patients who isolated themselves during the pandemic tended to change their eating habits and frequency of oral hygiene. Toothache was the main reason for seeking dental treatment and the replacement of pre-existing restorations was the main reason for restorative treatments

Association of Nd: YAG laser and calcium-phosphate desensitizing pastes on dentin permeability and tubule occlusion

Abstract Objective To evaluate the efficacy of Nd:YAG laser associated with calcium-phosphate desensitizing pastes on dentin permeability and tubule occlusion after erosive/abrasive challenges. Methodology Dentin specimens were exposed to 17% ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) solution for 5 min and randomly allocated into five groups: G1, control (no treatment); G2, Nd:YAG laser (1 W, 10 Hz, 100 mJ, 85 J/cm2); G3, Laser + TeethmateTM Desensitizer; G4, Laser + Desensibilize Nano P; and G5, Laser+Nupro®. Specimens underwent a 5-day erosion-abrasion cycling. Hydraulic conductance was measured post-EDTA, post-treatment, and post-cycling. Post-treatment and post-cycling permeability (%Lp) was calculated based on post-EDTA measurements, considered 100%. Open dentin tubules (ODT) were calculated at the abovementioned experimental moments using scanning electron microscopy and ImageJ software (n=10). Data were analyzed using two-way repeated measures ANOVA and Tukey's test (α=0.05). Results G1 presented the highest %Lp post-treatment of all groups (p<0.05), without significantly differences among them. At post-cycling, %Lp significantly decreased in G1, showed no significant differences from post-treatment in G3 and G4, and increased in G2 and G5, without significant differences from G1 (p>0.05). We found no significant differences in ODT among groups (p>0.05) post-EDTA. At post-treatment, treated groups did not differ from each other, but presented lower ODT than G1 (p<0.001). As for post-cycling, we verified no differences among groups (p>0.05), although ODT was significantly lower for all groups when compared to post-EDTA values (p<0.001). Conclusion All treatments effectively reduced dentin permeability and promoted tubule occlusion after application. Combining Nd YAG laser with calcium-phosphate pastes did not improve the laser effect. After erosive-abrasive challenges, treatments presented no differences when compared to the control.