Palate size and shape in schizophrenia.

The palate is considered typical of the structures in which schizophrenia-related minor physical anomalies may occur. In this study, we aimed to compare the dimensions and form of palate in patients with schizophrenia with nonpsychiatric controls in a blinded manner. Dental stone casts of 127 patients with schizophrenia and 127 controls were prepared from impressions of the maxillary dental arch. Palate dimensions were measured on the stone casts using a digital caliper and palatometer. Palate length did not differ significantly between the groups, but there was a significant difference in palate width and depth, which were significantly higher in the schizophrenia group. As a result of using multivariate analysis for assessing independent risk factors affecting patients with schizophrenia, furrowed palate shape, palate width, and ellipsoid maxillary dental arch shape were found to be significant. This study also revealed that patients with schizophrenia demonstrate certain gender-related predilections in the differences of palate parameters compared to same-sex controls. As the palate develops in conjunction with both the face and brain, our study findings can significantly contribute to the assumption that there might be structural abnormalities of the palate that could represent specific markers of embryological dysmorphogenesis underlying schizophrenia.

Bond strength and stability of 3 luting systems on a zirconia-dentin complex.

This study compared the bond strength and stability of 3 different luting systems to a zirconia ceramic crown. Sixty cylinders of zirconia ceramic were cemented to flat dentin surfaces of extracted human teeth, using 3 different luting agents (n = 20): a glass ionomer (GI) cement, a resin-modified glass-ionomer (RMGI) cement, and a resin cement containing 10-methacryloyloxydecyl dihydrogen phosphate (MDP). The specimens from each cement group were then divided into 2 subgroups (n = 10). Three subgroups (1 from each cement) were selected to test shear bond strength (SBS) immediately before an aging process of thermocycling and water storage, the remaining 3 subgroups were tested for SBS after the aging process. The aging process affected the bond strength of the MDP and RMGI cements. The MDP cement demonstrated superior bond strength compared to the GI and RMGI cements; the GI cement consistently had the lowest bond strength. The RMGI cement had higher cohesive failures at cement (70%), while the GI and the MDP cements had higher percentages of adhesive failure at the ceramic-cement interface (70% and 100%, respectively). The MDP cement promoted better adhesion between dentin and the zirconia ceramic.

Factors affecting the distribution and prevalence of oral mucosal lesions in complete denture wearers.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of the oral lesions related to gender, age, the length of time of denture usage, education level and economic status. METHODS: The 153 patients with old complete dentures (CD) were asked to participate in the investigation. The subjects (76 male and 77 female) were 37-85 years of age with a mean age of 61.8 ± 9.8 years. Education, economic status and age factors were estimated in subgroups. The data obtained were evaluated by one-way anova, Mann-Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Student's t-test and chi-squared test. The level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05. RESULTS: The patients who had denture stomatitis and traumatic ulcers were statistically significantly older than the ones who did not have these lesions (p<0.05). Based on the length of denture usage, patients who had a flabby ridge, fibrous inflammatory hyperplasia, traumatic ulcers (p<0.01) and denture stomatitis (p<0.05) were using their dentures statistically significantly longer than the ones who had healthy tissues. CONCLUSIONS: The CD wearers should be advised to visit their dentist regularly to prevent oral mucosal lesions due to the changing supporting tissues during the length of denture usage and to improve their quality of life.