Enlivening the radiographic features of Paget disease.

Paget disease often presents as a rare asymptomatic lesion of the bone until it progresses into the advanced stages. A senile man was diagnosed with Paget disease of bone on routine dental radiographic analysis. His history of fractures, periodical ill-fitting dentures and frequent pain in the long bones were contributing to the diagnosis. The patient was referred to a general physician where whole body radiographs were taken, which showed several of the classic features of Paget disease. Biochemical analysis was also done in which serum alkaline phosphatase was elevated with all other values within normal limits, confirming the diagnosis. The patient was treated with single-infusion bisphosphonate followed by other required dental procedures. Early diagnosis and prompt management gave a good prognosis, preventing the potential complications.

Evaluation of p16 hypermethylation in oral submucous fibrosis: A quantitative and comparative analysis in buccal cells and saliva using real-time methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to quantitatively investigate the hypermethylation of p16 gene in buccal cells and saliva of oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) patients using real-time quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and to compare the values of two methods. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 120 samples were taken from 60 subjects selected for this study, of which 30 were controls and 30 patients were clinically and histopathologically diagnosed with OSMF. In both groups, two sets of samples were collected, one directly from the buccal cells through cytobrush technique and the other through salivary rinse. We analyzed the samples for the presence of p16 hypermethylation using quantitative real-time PCR. RESULTS: In OSMF, the hypermethylation status of p16 in buccal cells was very high (93.3%) and in salivary samples, it was partially methylated (50%). However, no hypermethylation was found in controls suggesting that significant quantity of p16 hypermethylation was present in buccal cells and saliva in OSMF. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that buccal cell sampling may be a better method for evaluation than the salivary samples. It signifies that hypermethylation of p16 is an important factor to be considered in epigenetic alterations of normal cells to oral precancer, i.e. OSMF.