Modern modified aerosol box: Isolation aid for oral health care professionals during dental procedures.

COVID-19 affected healthcare professionals globally, especially dentists, which is airborne and transmitted through contact. Most dental procedures are aerosol generated and these aerosols in dental practice tend to transmit acute respiratory infections like COVID-19. Recently, a few authors recommended using the aerosol box to reduce the aerosol count in a dental setting. However, the study aims to describe and recommend a reformed aerosol box desand to practice safe dentistry.

Correlation between BMI and Oral Health Status (DMFT, PI, mSBI, and Salivary 1,5-AG) among the Pediatric Population in Saudi Arabia: A Clinico-Biochemical Study.

The study aimed to investigate the association of varying body mass index (BMI) with oral health status among children aged 5-14 years and correlate the concentration of salivary levels of 1,5-AG with varying BMI, dental caries, and periodontal disease. This cross-sectional study was conducted on subjects aged 5 to 14 years. The children were recruited from the Pediatric Dental Clinic, College of Dentistry, Majmaah University, by convenient sampling method. Sociodemographic details and clinical parameters, including body mass index (BMI), DMFT/def (deciduous decayed tooth (d), deciduous extracted tooth (e), deciduous filled tooth (f), permanent tooth decayed (D), permanent missing tooth (M), and permanent filled tooth (F)), plaque index (PI), and modified sulcular bleeding index (mSBI), were evaluated. Salivary 1,5-anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG) was analyzed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for all the subjects. Statistical analyses performed using SPSS v. 27 (IBM Statistics, Chicago, IL, USA) and the Kruskal-Wallis and chi-square tests were used for comparisons. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to examine the association between the study subjects' independent variables, BMI, and caries activity. The mean def score, PI, and mSBI scores were higher in obese children. PI score, mSBI score, and salivary concentrations of 1,5-AG between the BMI categories were statistically significant (p < 0.001). The study emphasizes promoting preventive oral health regimes, health awareness campaigns, and nutritional educational programs among the pediatric population.

Correlation between Salivary Levels of IGF-1, IGFBP-3, IGF-1/IGFBP3 Ratio with Skeletal Maturity Using Hand-Wrist Radiographs.

OBJECTIVE: The relevance of growth determination in orthodontics is driving the search for the most precise and least invasive way of tracking the pubertal growth spurt. Our aim was to explore whether minimally invasive salivary estimation of biomarkers Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) and Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) could be used to estimate skeletal maturity for clinical convenience, especially in children and adolescent age groups. MATERIALS AND METHOD: The cross-sectional study was conducted on 90 participants (56 girls and 34 males) with ages ranging from 6 to 25 years. Each subject's hand-wrist radiograph was categorized based on skeletal maturity, and saliva samples were estimated for IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 using the respective ELISA kits. Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric ANOVA was applied to compare different skeletal stages. RESULTS: The study demonstrated low salivary IGF-1 levels at the prepubertal stage, with increase during pubertal onset and peak pubertal stage followed by a decline during pubertal deceleration to growth completion. Spearman's correlation coefficient demonstrated a strong positive association (r = 0.98 p < 0.01) between salivary IGF/IGFBP-3 ratio and different stages of skeletal maturity. CONCLUSION: Salivary IGF-1, IGFBP-3, and IGF/IGFBP-3 ratio could serve as a potential biochemical marker for predicting the completion of skeletal maturity.

Perceptions and Preventive Practices Regarding COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak and Oral Health Care Perceptions during the Lockdown: A Cross-Sectional Survey from Saudi Arabia.

AIMS: The study aimed to evaluate perceptions and preventive practices regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and oral health care perceptions during the lockdown in the Saudi Arabian population. MATERIALS AND METHOD: This cross-sectional study was performed by collecting the data from individuals belonging to various parts of the Saudi Arabian Population through an online self-reported questionnaire. The questionnaire had two main parts: first comprised of demographic data include the region of residence, gender, nationality, age, the number of family members, monthly income of the family, and the second was further divided into three sections of perception (P), practice (PRA) and oral health care practice (D) questions. All these (P, PRA, and D) were analyzed by comparing all of the demographic characteristics. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS IBM (version 21.0), and statistical significance was set at a 5% level. RESULTS: Overall, 2013 participants (54% males and 46% females) contributed to the Saudi Arabia study. Only 5% of non-Saudis live in Saudi Arabia were participated in the study, while the majority of participants were of 21-40 years age group (45%), 59% of having more than five family members, and 60% of them had ≤10 K Suadi riyal monthly income respectively. The majority of the participants were from Riyadh (33.7%) and Asir (25.1%) in the study. Overall, 89.5% of the participants were aware of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The majority of the participants (55%) from Saudi Arabia utilized the Ministry of Health website, a source of information regarding COVID-19. However, 56.5% of the participants had COVID-19 related perception, and 74.3% followed an appropriate preventive practice. Approximately 60% had good oral health practice. The study participants showed mixed opinions on perceptions regarding COVID-19, preventive practice, and oral health practices. CONCLUSION: The present study suggested that the Saudi Arabian population has good attention to COVID-19, but preventive practice and oral health perception need better awareness to control this novel virus spread. The Ministry of Health website utilized as a significant source of information among the Saudi Arabian population regarding COVID-19.