ABSTRACT
Oral food perception depends on somatosensory information that includes taste and can be modified by oral components and/or functions such as mastication. The purpose of this study was to describe the interplay between oral health, mastication and taste. A review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist was conducted on 615 publications found by both PubMed and backward research. Thirty-one studies have been included. The results showed that the decline in taste ability observed during the healthy ageing process could be potentiated by the deterioration of oral health and poor oral hygiene. Prosthetic treatment could modify taste ability and oral food perception. A palatal covering with removable dentures can have an impact on taste perception which may depend on taste modality. During the mastication sequence, taste is apparently scattered throughout the oral cavity, probably through saliva. The deterioration of masticatory function modifies taste perception. Oral health and oral care should consider factors influencing patients' food perception and relations between taste and mastication. Therefore, dentists may modulate these factors to improve food perception and patients' eating pleasure and quality of life.
Subject(s)
Deglutition/physiology , Eating/psychology , Food Preferences/psychology , Mastication/physiology , Mouth/physiology , Oral Health , Taste Perception/physiology , Checklist , Eating/physiology , Humans , Oral Health/standards , Quality of Life , Salivation/physiologyABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Early Childhood Caries (ECC) has become a major public health concern worldwide, mostly affecting children from disadvantaged families in increasingly severe forms. This condition has been frequently reported to alter children's nutrition, growth and general development. It negatively impacts their quality of life, through painful episodes and severe eating difficulties. While this period is crucial for oral praxes development, the impact of dental state on oro-facial functions is poorly documented. This study evaluated the impact of ECC and its treatment under general anesthesia on oro-facial functions and quality of life in pre-school children. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The dysfunction and quality of life scores from 25 children with ECC were evaluated before treatment (T0), one month (T1) and three months after treatment (T2), using the Nordic Orofacial Test-Screening (NOT-S) and the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS), respectively, in comparison with 16 caries-free children. The number and extent of inter-arch dental contacts were also observed. RESULTS: The pre-operative higher NOT-S score observed in children with ECC decreased to reach the control level at T2. The mastication item was the most affected in the ECC group throughout the study. Their mean ECOHIS score also significantly decreased post-operatively and differences remaining between both groups were no longer clinically relevant. In addition, in children with ECC, values of functional inter-arch surfaces tended to increase over the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Oro-facial functions and quality of life, altered by ECC, could be restored through a conservative treatment approach. Relations between dental state, orofacial functions and particularly chewing, and nutrition should be investigated further.
Subject(s)
Anesthesia, General , Dental Caries/therapy , Quality of Life , Age Factors , Child , Child, Preschool , Face/physiology , Female , Humans , Male , Mouth/physiology , Prospective StudiesABSTRACT
This study aimed to evaluate clinical qualities and evolution on ceramic endocrowns produced with the Cerec 3D (Sirona). Endocrowns were produced in a hospital environment and evaluated according to the FDI criteria on the day of placement and 6 months afterwards. Each item was graded from 1 (good) to 5 (bad). A global score, as well as a score for aesthetics, functioning and biological integration was assessed for each evaluation. During the 6-month evaluation period, the scores were always related to good clinical quality, except for single crown restoration. The scores did not change between the two periods of evaluation.
Subject(s)
Computer-Aided Design , Dental Porcelain/chemistry , Post and Core Technique/standards , Adult , Bicuspid/pathology , Ceramics/chemistry , Cohort Studies , Crowns , Dental Marginal Adaptation , Dental Prosthesis Design , Dental Restoration Failure , Esthetics, Dental , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Molar/pathology , Prosthesis Coloring , Surface Properties , Tooth Preparation, Prosthodontic/methodsABSTRACT
To estimate the minimal gene set required to sustain bacterial life in nutritious conditions, we carried out a systematic inactivation of Bacillus subtilis genes. Among approximately 4,100 genes of the organism, only 192 were shown to be indispensable by this or previous work. Another 79 genes were predicted to be essential. The vast majority of essential genes were categorized in relatively few domains of cell metabolism, with about half involved in information processing, one-fifth involved in the synthesis of cell envelope and the determination of cell shape and division, and one-tenth related to cell energetics. Only 4% of essential genes encode unknown functions. Most essential genes are present throughout a wide range of Bacteria, and almost 70% can also be found in Archaea and Eucarya. However, essential genes related to cell envelope, shape, division, and respiration tend to be lost from bacteria with small genomes. Unexpectedly, most genes involved in the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway are essential. Identification of unknown and unexpected essential genes opens research avenues to better understanding of processes that sustain bacterial life.
Subject(s)
Bacillus subtilis/genetics , Genes, Bacterial , Bacillus subtilis/cytology , Bacillus subtilis/metabolism , Cell Division/genetics , Cell Membrane/genetics , Coenzymes/genetics , Coenzymes/metabolism , Energy Metabolism/genetics , Genome, Bacterial , Mutation , Nucleotides/genetics , Nucleotides/metabolism , PhylogenyABSTRACT
When Bacillus subtilis is subjected to phosphate starvation, genes of the Pho regulon are either induced or repressed. Among those induced are genes encoding alkaline phosphatases (APases). A set of isogenic mutants, with a beta-galactosidase gene transcriptionally fused to the inactivated target gene, was used to identify genes that influence the operation of the Pho regulon. One such gene was nhaC (previously yheL). In the absence of NhaC, growth and APase production were enhanced, while the production of other non-Pho-regulon secretory proteins (proteases and alpha-amylase) did not change. The influence of NhaC on growth, APase synthesis, and its own expression was dependent on the external Na+ concentration. Other monovalent cations such as Li+ or K+ had no effect. We propose a role for NhaC in the uptake of Na+. nhaC appears to be encoded by a monocistronic operon and, contrary to previous reports, is not in the same transcriptional unit as yheK, the gene immediately upstream. The increase in APase production was dependent on an active PhoR, the sensor kinase of the two-component system primarily responsible for controlling the Pho regulon. Transcriptional fusions showed that the phoPR operon and both phoA (encoding APaseA) and phoB (encoding APaseB) were hyperinduced in the absence of NhaC and repressed when this protein was overproduced. This suggests that NhaC effects APase production via phoPR.
