ABSTRACT
The tongue is a muscular organ with a rich blood supply and acts as an immune defence mechanism. The occurrence of a tongue abscess without immune deficiency is rare. The purpose of this report is to present the case of an eight-year-old boy with a spherical, pinkish-yellow, fluctuant, nontender swelling measuring two cm in diameter on the right anterolateral border of the tongue, causing difficulty in swallowing and speaking. Ultrasonography was performed, followed by a 940-nm diode laser-assisted incision and drainage under local anesthesia. Healing was uneventful, with no recurrence for two years now. A tongue abscess can be life-threatening due to its ability to cause respiratory obstruction. The diode laser can be a safe and effective tool for its management.
Subject(s)
Abscess/radiotherapy , Laser Therapy/methods , Lasers, Semiconductor/therapeutic use , Tongue Diseases/radiotherapy , Tongue/radiation effects , Abscess/diagnostic imaging , Abscess/pathology , Abscess/surgery , Anesthesia, Local , Biopsy/methods , Child , Deglutition , Humans , India , Lymphocytes , Male , Plasma Cells/pathology , Speech , Tongue/diagnostic imaging , Tongue/pathology , Tongue/surgery , Tongue Diseases/diagnostic imaging , Tongue Diseases/pathology , Tongue Diseases/surgery , Treatment Outcome , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The maxim "rich get richer and the poor get poorer" forms the basis for Matthew effect in Science. Our goal of conducting this study was to test the hypothesis that the gap in number of publications between renowned, older authors and newer authors amongst Indian pediatric dentists widens over time as stated by the Matthew effect and possible trends in publication in Journal of Indian Society of Pedodontics & Preventive Dentistry (JISPPD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was hypothesized that the Matthew effect is applicable to the work published by Indian Pedodontists in the official publication of Indian Society of Pedodontics & Preventive Dentistry (ISPPD). The names of the authors in JISPPD from 1996 to 2011 were recorded year wise and the data was entered in Microsoft excel 2007 and analyzed using SPSS software. RESULTS: The study revealed that there were a total of 823 papers published in JISPPD during the study period (1996 to 2011) by 1142 authors. 71.6% authors had contributed only one paper and 14.4% authors had contributed two papers during the study period. Only 0.6% authors had contributed to 20 or more papers. The results revealed evidence of Matthew effect for publications in JISPPD and the effect is relatively large. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study showed that the Matthew effect is prevalent in the publication trends in JISPPD.
