Bilateral Nonossifying Fibroma of the Mandible: A case report of a rare entity.

Nonossifying fibroma (NOF) is a benign lesion confined to the bone marrow and connective tissues without exhibiting osseous metaplasia. NOF of long bones in children is more common than its gnathic counterpart. Mandibular NOF is rare, and there is a paucity of information in the literature. NOF of the jaws clinically presents as a nodular, fibrous, asymptomatic, gingival, or alveolar mucosal enlargement, with or without facial swelling. NOF differs from the ossifying type by the presence of metastatic woven bone in ossifying type. This article reports an example of bilateral, multilocular, NOF of the mandible in a 15-year-old female patient with unilateral, asymptomatic facial asymmetry. The radiographic features were characteristic of NOF. It was treated successfully with surgical excision and curettage. A 2-year postoperative follow-up showed recurrence of the right lesion and needed secondary surgical intervention, and the tumor on the left side, however, healed well without recurrence.

Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance among Dental Professionals: A Multi-Country Survey.

PURPOSE: This study sought to investigate the acceptance rate and associated factors of COVID-19 vaccines among dentists and dental students in seven countries. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A structured questionnaire prepared and guided by the report of the SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy was distributed among groups of dentists and dental students in seven countries across four continents. RESULTS: A total of 1527 subjects (850 dentists and 677 dental students) participated in this survey. Although 72.5% of the respondents reported their intention to accept COVID-19 vaccines (dentists: 74.4%, dental students: 70.2%), there was a significant difference in agreement between dentists/dental students across countries; generally, respondents in upper-middle-, and high-income countries (UM-HICs) showed significantly higher acceptance rates compared to those in low- and lower-middle income countries (L-LMICs). Potential predictors of higher vaccine acceptance included being a dentist, being free of comorbidity, being well-informed about COVID-19 vaccines, having better knowledge about COVID-19 complications, having anxiety about COVID-19 infection, having no concerns about the side effects of the produced vaccines and being a resident of an UM-HIC. CONCLUSION: The results of our survey indicate a relatively good acceptance rate of COVID-19 among the surveyed dentists and dental students. However, dentists and dental students in L-LMICs showed significantly lower vaccine acceptance rates and trust in COVID-19 vaccines compared to their counterparts in UM-HICs. Our results provide important information to policymakers, highlighting the need for implementation of country-specific vaccine promotion strategies, with special focus on L-LMICs.

Knowledge and Attitude Among the Saudi Dentists Towards Coronectomy of Impacted Mandibular Third Molars.

Purpose: Compared to the complete extraction of impacted third molars that are in close proximity to the mandibular canal, the coronectomy procedure is used as an alternative, owing to its minimal risk of damaging the Inferior alveolar nerve. Despite clear coronectomy concepts mentioned in the literature, the procedure is debatable. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude towards the coronectomy procedure among dentists in Saudi Arabia. Patients and Methods: The 16 close-ended questionnaire was distributed electronically to 377 dentists over the country. It included the demographic data and the options given to their patients with complicated impacted third molars, and the number of coronectomy they have performed. The retrieved data were exported and transferred to the SPSS software program for analysis. The Chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests were used as appropriate for comparisons. A P-value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Only 54 (15%) participants performed coronectomy procedure, and only 28.3% of the participants advised their patients to do coronectomy. Nearly two-thirds of the participants (71.9%) were aware of coronectomy procedures, with no significant differences (P> 0.05) between the groups. About 68.9% of the participants agreed that coronectomy aims to protect inferior alveolar nerve damage. More than 60% of participants believed that coronectomy is a reliable technique, while 40.6% of participants claimed that they were capable of deciding whether to do coronectomy or extraction. No significant differences were found between the groups concerning most of the study variables (P> 0.05). Conclusion: Knowledge of Saudi dentists towards coronectomy is good, while their attitude is still low. More learning strategies about coronectomy should be implemented.

Oral Health and Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Case Control Study.

INTRODUCTION: Association between oral health and rheumatoid arthritis is well established. Oral health-related quality of life was determined in patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted among 45 patients (males 25 and female 20) (Group I) of RA and 45 healthy participants as control (Group II). Disease activity score 28 test, health assessment questionnaire (HAQ), and general oral health assessment index (GOHAI) questionnaire were applied. RESULTS: The mean HAQ score in Group I was 1.14 and in Group II was 0.36. The mean GOHAI score in Group I was 36.4 and in Group II was 52.8. The mean HAQ in males was 0.94 and in females was 34.6. The mean GOHAI in males was 12.6 and in females was 38.2. In Group I, there were 15 patients with HAQ level 1 and 30 with HAQ level 2 and in Group II was 40 with HAQ levels 1 and 5 with HAQ level 2. In Group I, 42 had Dt GOHAI = 0 and 3 had Dt GOHAI = 1 and in Group II, 10 had Dt GOHAI = 0 and 35 had Dt GOHAI = 1. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). There was a statistically significant difference in the mean value of HAQ and GOHAI in degree of disease activity (P < 0.05). There was an increase in HAQ and decreases GOHAI scores with the deterioration of disease. There was a correlation between age and involved joints with HAQ and inverse relationship between age and involved joints with GOHAI. CONCLUSION: Authors found that RA patients had poor oral health quality of life. It was found that aging and with the deterioration of disease, GOHAI, and the oral health quality of life of patients decreased.

Stumbling block for inferior alveolar nerve block in predoctoral students: An analytical observational study and review of literature of mandibular nerve block techniques.

INTRODUCTION: Dentists earnestly try to practice painless treatment. Conventional inferior alveolar nerve block technique is preferred by most of the dentists despite its various modifications.However its failure rate as per literature is quite high. Inexperienced dentists face difficulty in obtaining effective anesthesia. This may be due to limited access to inferior alveolar nerve,greater density of alveolar bone,bulky soft tissues,damage to nerve or due to risk of intravascular injection. AIM: The aim of this study is to review and clinically assess the factors causing difficulty or failure of inferior alveolar nerve block in predoctoral students and to review the mandibular nervve blocks. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Dental interns of riyadh elm university were monitored during administration of inferior alveolar nerve block for difficulty factors influencing inferior alveolar nerve block. Onset of anesthesia, efficacy anesthesia of inferior alveolar nerve, lingual nerve and long buccal nerve were ascertained. Difficulty index was used to assess the "item difficulty" with a score of 0.0 which indicates that none of the dental interns anesthetised correctly to 1.0 suggesting all the dental interns anesthetised correctly. RESULTS: Complete failure of inferior alveolar nerve block was noticed in 2.4% of predoctoral students. The most common cause for inferior alveolar nerve block failure was attributed to the difficulty in palpating the landmarks (77%), 22% of the patients refused multiple needle penetrations,and 19% of inferior alveolar nerve block failure was due to the fear of potential complications by the predoctoral students. CONCLUSION: Clinical skill of predoctoral students need adequate training in nerve blocks. Revising the current literature on alternative inferior alveolar nerve block techniques or use of evidence based dentistry to update and practice alternative nerve block techniques would aid in improving the clinical skills and treatment outcome which would therefore enable to remove the stumbling blocks in successful anesthesia.

Mothers' sense of coherence and oral health-related quality of life in cleft lip and palate children visiting a private dental college: A Survey.

BACKGROUND: In addition to an adjusting physical appearance, children with cleft lip and palate also deal with psychological and psychosocial limitation. Mothers' sense of coherence (SOC) could be a psychosocial determinant of oral health quality of life (OH-QoL) of cleft lip and palate patients. Hence, the present study was done to assess the relationship of mothers' SOC on OH-QoL in cleft lip and palate patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted on mothers of cleft lip and palate children. The first part consisted of demographic details. The second part of scale was the early childhood and oral health impact scale (ECOHIS) which had a total 13 questions with responses on a 4-point Likert scale. The third part was to assess mothers' SOC using a short version of SOC-13 consists of 13 items on a 7-point Likert scale. Chi-square test was applied to assess the association between mothers' SOC, sociodemographic characteristic, and children's OHRQoL. In the analysis, P < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Out of 69% of low SOC population, 21.73% were rural, 20.39% were from peri-urban, and 57.97% population was from urban areas. Out of 150 participants, 2.40% in high ECOHIS were illiterate/primary school, "31.32% were high school/intermediate/diploma had high ECOHIS while 66.26% were high school/intermediate/diploma" had low ECOHIS, and 25.37% were graduate/postgraduate. Mothers' education and locality were statistically significant P < 0.001. CONCLUSION: Action to enhance mothers' SOC might form part of oral health promotion and help to improve the oral health quality of life of cleft lip and palate patients.

Lingual schwannoma in an adolescent girl- A diagnostic challenge.

Shwannoma, a benign neurogenic neoplasm consisting of schwann cells is a slow growing solitarily found pathology. We present a case of shwannoma in a 14 year old girl and its identifying features which can be a diagnostic challenge owing to its similarity with many lesions. The patient visited our center with a nodular growth on her tongue. Transoral excision was performed and pathologic examination confirmed the diagnosis of schwannoma.