Assessment of oral manifestations of systemic health related knowledge of medical students pursuing internship programme at a tertiary health care centre.

Aim: Clinicians across the entire medical profession are responsible for detection, prevention and imparting importance of oral health to the patients. However, many studies conducted so far show lack of knowledge of medical students regarding dental conditions. The present observational study was undertaken to evaluate the knowledge of oral manifestations of systemic diseases amongst medical students undergoing Internship program at a tertiary centre. Materials & method: A self-structured Questionnaire comprising of 20 questions was used as a survey tool to assess the understanding of 100 medical students undergoing internship program. They were explained about the purpose of the study. The questionnaire consisted of an objective part Yes/No (7 questions) and subjective part designed on likert scale(13 questions). There were questions on their view on current curriculum for dentistry in medical undergraduate training and possible enhancement in teaching modalities. The subjective part had five options to choose from, Strongly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree And Strongly Disagree. Statistical analysis: The responses of objective questions was recorded and percentage calculated for both options. The total score was obtained for each participant based on their reponses to the subjective questions based on the Likert scale. Student t-test was applied to calculate means between male and female students. Results: For all objective questions, percentage was calculated for affirmative and negative responses. The responses were calculated on scale5-1 for the subjective questions. Reverse scoring was done for questions 10,11,12 i. e scale 1-5. The maximum achievable score in this category was 65 which was further divided into three category as Excellent score range 55-65, Good score range 45-54, Unsatisfactory score range 35-44. The number of students in excellent category were 11, Good 66, unsatisfactory 23. The average score obtained was 48.175. The mean scores for males was 48.0161 and for females it was 48.142. The scores were slightly better for females but the difference was statistically insignificant as (p-value = 0.455056). Conclusion: The present study showed good level of Knowledge on oral manifestations of systemic diseases among medical students as compared to other studies which forms an integral part of medical curriculum. The students responses on enhancing dental curriculum and teaching aids for improved education tools can help the faculty provide a better teaching learning experience.

Authors' awareness of concepts in the authorship of scientific publications: Viewpoints of the dental faculty in India.

BACKGROUND: There is a great deal of enthusiasm amongst the contemporary dental academicians and researchers to publish their research findings and interesting cases. The competitive atmosphere has fostered a 'publish or perish' sentiment following which authors sideline certain essential and valid concepts in authorship and at times resort to unethical behavior knowingly or unknowingly to expand their publication list. MATERIALS AND METHOD: We attempted to assess the current knowledge of the Indian dental teaching faculty regarding some important basic concepts in scientific authorship by means of a questionnaire-based pilot study. The respondents were asked questions pertaining to their knowledge of terms such as "authorship criteria", "conflict of interest", "plagiarism", and other authorship issues. RESULTS: Our findings suggested significant lacunae regarding the authors' understanding of important basic concepts in scientific writing. CONCLUSION: We suggest possible measures to address this concern and also aim to survey a larger section of the academia in the future.

Giant keratocystic odontogenic tumor: a challenging diagnosis.

The keratocystic odontogenic tumor, although a benign lesion, is peculiarly aggressive with a high recurrence rate. Its involvement with the maxillary antrum is atypical. We report the unusual case of a 20-year-old male patient with an extensive antral tumor associated with an impacted third molar, which was initially misdiagnosed as a dentigerous cyst. Clinical, radiographic, and histopathologic aspects were analyzed to provide useful information for the correct diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis within a multidisciplinary approach.

Craniofacial fibrous dysplasia Report of a case with diverse radiological spectrum.

A young male of Asian-Indian ethnicity reported with a complaint of a painless, slow growing swelling over the left side of lower jaw. A thorough clinical history was taken and detailed radiological exam performed. The conventional radiographic examination revealed a mixed radiolucent-radiopaque lesion with unique appearances on different radiographs. Additional computed tomographic examination discovered the involvement of several bones in the skull base. Subsequent to histopathological confirmation a final diagnosis of craniofacial fibrous dysplasia was made. This case is particularly unique and of didactic importance as well because the various textbook descriptions for radiological appearances of fibrous dysplasia were found in the same case.

Salivary level of interleukin-8 in oral precancer and oral squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Interleukin 8 (IL-8) is a pro-angiogenic, pro-inflammatory mediator that belongs to the family of chemokines. Due to its pro-angiogenic characteristic, it may play a vital role in tumour angiogenesis and progression. OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to estimate the levels of salivary IL-8 in oral precancer and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients and compare them with healthy controls. The aim was to evaluate its efficacy as a potential biomarker for these diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Each group comprised 25 individuals. The salivary IL-8 levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The levels of salivary IL-8 were found to be significantly elevated in patients with OSCC as compared to the precancer group (p < 0.0001) and healthy controls (p < 0.0001). However, the difference in salivary IL-8 concentrations among the precancer group and controls was statistically non-significant (p = 0.738). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that salivary IL-8 can be utilised as a potential biomarker for OSCC. Salivary IL-8 was found to be non-conclusive for oral premalignancy in this preliminary study. Hence, its possible role in transition from premalignancy to malignancy needs further research with larger sample sizes. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Saliva as a diagnostic biofluid offers a number of advantages over blood-based testing. The role of IL-8 in oral cancer if validated further by future research can provide an easy diagnostic test as well as a prognostic indicator for patients undergoing treatment. Therefore, if it's role in tumourigenesis can be sufficiently assessed, it could open up new avenues to find out novel treatment modalities for oral cancer.

Trigeminal neuralgia: An insight into the current treatment modalities.

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is one of the most excruciating pain syndromes afflicting the orofacial region. Trigeminal neuralgia may be primary i.e. idiopathic or secondary, resulting from trauma or a CNS lesion. Considering the agonizing nature of the disease and TN being the commonest of the neural maladies affecting the orofacial region it is important for the oral physician to be aware of all available treatment options. This article makes an attempt to present a brief insight into the current treatment modalities that are on hand to treat this condition. From the perspective of the oral physician the pharmacotherapy constitutes the cornerstone in the management of TN. At the same time, it is also important to be aware and updated of the role of the oral surgeon and radiologist in the application of the array of interventional procedures available for treating TN.