ABSTRACT
Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate and compare oral health status of bronchial asthma patients between the age group of 8-15 years with healthy individuals and examines the relationship between the severity of asthma, dose duration, method of taking medication, and use of AeroChamber on the dental health of children diagnosed with asthma. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study assessed the oral status of asthmatic patients and compared with a control group of 200 nonasthmatic patients. Both groups were matched in relation to age and gender. The oral health was assessed by measuring oral hygiene, caries status, periodontal health, and candidiasis of participants. Oral hygiene was measured by plaque index, caries assessment was done with the decayed missing filled teeth index/decayed extracted filled (DMFT/def index) and the periodontal status was measured with community periodontal index (CPI) adapted from the WHO (1997). Results: Plaque index score among asthmatics group was 1.49 ± 0.65 was significantly higher than healthy group 1.08 ± 0.57. The significant difference was noted in the mean caries (DMFT/def) score for asthmatic patients (2.31 ± 1.65/1.02 ± 0.39) and the controls (1.98 ± 1.54/0.74 ± 0.39). The CPI score was also significantly high in asthmatics (3.19 ± 1.68) in comparison to healthy individuals (2.32 ± 2.07). The candidiasis was absent in healthy individuals while it was present among 28 patients in the asthmatic group. The patients who were taking medication from longer period of time (9-12 months) had significantly worse oral health. The study result did not show any significant difference with the type of inhalation. However it showed significantly improved oral health for patients using AeroChamber in comparison to the patients not using it. Conclusion: Oral health was significantly poor in asthmatic patients in comparison with the healthy individuals. Increased frequency of asthma medication use was associated with increased likelihood of poor oral health. Use of AeroChamber improves the oral health of patients.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There is increasing interest to develop antimicrobial aids from alternative sources such as medicinal plants for the treatment of infectious diseases. Neem and clove are known to have antimicrobial properties. AIM: The study aimed at detecting the antibacterial and antifungal activity of neem and clove extract against Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Strains of S. mutans and C. albicans and selective media for growing micro-organisms were procured. Antimicrobial activity was assessed using two methods, by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) using the broth dilution method and determining the zone of inhibition using well diffusion method on mitis salivarius bacitracin selective for S. mutans and Saboraud's dextrose agar plates for C. albicans. One way ANOVA with post hoc analysis was done to compare the antimicrobial activity of extracts and 0.2% chlorhexidine. RESULTS: MIC of neem extract was found to be 4.2 mg/ml and 5.0 mg/ml against S. mutans and C. albicans, respectively. While for cloves, it was 5.5 mg/ml for both. Neem had the highest antibacterial activity with a mean zone of inhibition of 11.4 mm followed by chlorhexidine and cloves whereas antifungal activity was highest for chlorhexidine (14.4 mm) followed by neem and clove. CONCLUSION: The result of the study established that both plant extracts possess antimicrobial activity against common microbes present in the oral cavity.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Evidence based dental practice is said to be the recent best approach to provide treatments or interventions, methodically proven to be safe and sound, efficient and cost effective. So, for providing quality dental care, clinical expertise, research evidence and patient's preferences all should be given equal importance. AIM: To assess the awareness, attitude & barriers of evidence-based dental practice (EBDP) amongst dentists of Bhopal city. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The target population of this cross-sectional study involves dentists of Bhopal city. Two hundred fifty private dentists of Bhopal were selected using convenience sampling technique. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire containing 15 questions for assessing Knowledge, attitude, practice & barriers in Evidence based practice. Chi-square, t-test & one-way ANOVA were applied for data analysis and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The study revealed that dental practitioners had low knowledge about evidence based dental practices but they showed positive attitude towards adopting it in their future practice. There exist certain barriers in practice of evidence based dentistry. CONCLUSION: Including evidence based dental practice teaching in dental curriculum may prove to be a significant step in effective and efficient dental care delivery to the patients. Barriers in evidence based practice needs to be identified & eliminated.
