Dental lasers: a review of safety essentials

The laser technology offers a wide range of uses in dentistry with certain advantages to the general dental practitioner like bloodless surgery, minimal post-operative pain, reduction of operative time and high patient acceptance. Patient acceptance has also been demonstrated in various studies. Apart of these major advantages, safety regarding the use of lasers cannot be neglected and has become an important concern in this modern era of dentistry, as application of this technology is growing day by day. Potential hazards can be encountered while using lasers like ocular hazards, tissue injury, inhaling the vapor emitted by the laser procedure, fire and explosion hazards etc. The safe use of lasers includes all the individuals who might be exposed either deliberately or accidently while using lasers and effective measures that can be undertaken by clinicians and health professionals to minimize the injuries caused due to laser accidents. The present article serves to explore the risks involved in the use of lasers in dentistry and suggest some of the laser safety protocols/measures that can be established in the dental office for prevention of laser injuries.

Hepatocellular carcinoma presenting as polymyositis: a paraneoplastic syndrome

Polymyositis as a paraneoplastic syndrome associated with hepatocellular carcinoma is quite rare; only a few cases have been reported. We report a case of a 50-year-old female who presented with subacute quadriparesis, neck muscle weakness, elevated creatinine phosphokinase, a myogenic pattern on the EMG and was diagnosed as having polymyositis, a paraneoplastic syndrome associated with hepatocellular carcinoma with negative hepatic viral markers and a positive ANA. Improvement in patient symptoms and areduction in creatinine phosphokinase, which occurred after lobectomy, supports this rare association

Omental cyst--a rare entity.

A case of omental cyst in a young girl who presented with distension and a lump in abdomen and having difficulty in micturition is reported. Pre-operative diagnosis was achieved by ultrasonography. An exploratory laparotomy with excision of cyst was done and histopathologic examination of the specimen confirmed the diagnosis. The postoperative course was uneventful. The aetiopathogenesis, special features of the disease and review of literature is discussed.