The prosthetic rehabilitation of a patient with a lateral postsurgical defect using a 2-piece magnet-retained facial prosthesis: A clinical report.

Nonsurgical prosthetic interventions are often proposed after repeated grafts have failed to restore irradiated facial defects. This report describes a facial prosthetic reconstruction following ablative surgery for a sizable facial tumor by using a novel custom-made magnet-bearing substructure, which connected with an exposed part of the mandibular reconstruction plate. The defect involved the entire left lower part of the face and angle of the mentum. This reconstructive technique, together with an added surface texture with hair-like silicone strands, effectively addressed the cosmetic needs of the patient. Magnetic anchorage to an exposed reconstruction plate could be considered an option for retaining facial prostheses. The biomechanical aspects of loading and retention should be addressed before considering this prosthetic option.

Gingival leiomyomatous hamartoma of the maxilla: a rare entity.

Hamartoma is a tumour-like malformation appearing as a focal overgrowth of normal cells. Leiomyomatous hamartomas (LHs) are rare in the oral cavity and commonly seen in the Japanese and less than 40 cases have been reported in the Japanese and English literature. The clinical differential diagnoses are irritational (traumatic) fibroma and congenital epulis. It has to be differentiated histopathologically from its neoplastic counterparts and mesenchymomas. Hence, we report such a case of LHs, which presented as a sessile gingival growth occurring in the midline in a 15-year-old girl. The final diagnosis was based on the histopathological appearance which was confirmed by immunohistochemical staining of various markers. A review of the literature of previous cases was also carried out.

Life-Threatening Oral Bleed­A Rare Presentation of Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia.

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an autosomal dominant disorder of fibrovascular tissues. Patients with HHT often develop life-threatening bleeds from telangiectasias in the nasal or gastrointestinal mucosa or from visceral arteriovenous malformations. Recurrent oral bleeds are rare presentations in these patients and are seldom reported. This report describes a rare case of 72-year-old man with a known history of HHT who presented with a recurrent life-threatening oral bleed from telangiectasia of the palate and reviews the literature for current trends of medical and dental management. This study is an effort to draw the attention of oral physicians and surgeons to such drastic complications of the disease and various current treatment modalities.

Mucormycosis: a challenge for diagnosis and treatment--2 case reports and review of literature.

To present two clinical rare case reports of mucormycosis, an opportunistic fungal infection of maxilla presenting as necrosis in palate. The cases reported were two females with known immunodefficeancies. One patient was uncontrolled type 1 diabetic and the other was acute myloid leukemic patient on chemotherapy. Both the patients showed necrosis of hard palate. After histopathologic and culture report confirmation with a diagnosis of mucormycosis, they underwent surgical resection of involved bone and amphotericin B therapy. There was complete cure of disease. The oral physicians and surgeons play an important role in early detection of disease. Apt multimodal treatment strategy and prophylaxis for mucormycosis in all immune-deficient patients will help us to combat this dreaded disease. The antifungal prophylaxis for all chemotherapy patients should be reviewed so that prophylaxis for mucormycosis should also be included.

Effect of betamethasone on the degree of macrophage recruitment and nerve growth factor receptor p75 immunoreaction during recovery of the sciatic nerve after injury: an experimental study in rats.

PURPOSE: This study was designed to explain our previous findings of beneficial effects of betamethasone given perioperatively on decreasing the incidence of neurosensory disturbance after sagittal split osteotomy and improving functional recovery after crush injury to rat sciatic nerves. We analysed the pattern of macrophage recruitment and expression of nerve growth factor p75. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The sciatic nerve was crushed in each of 42 animals by tying the nerve against a glass rod for 30s. Half the rats were given betamethasone and half were not. The effect of betamethasone was evaluated immunohistochemically in a double blind manner after 2, 7 and 17 days using antibodies against macrophage marker (ED1) and p75. RESULTS: We found an initial and significant decrease in the number of macrophages recruited after two days in the group treated with betamethasone compared with controls (p=0.001). By 7 days there were significantly more macrophages in the steroid group than in the control group (p=0.001). There was however, a tendency for the number of p75R to be higher in the in the steroid group but the difference was not significant. At 17 days, there were significantly fewer macrophages in the steroid group (p=0.008) than in the control. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the beneficial effect of a moderate perioperative dose of betamethasone on recovery of a nerve is reflected in the recruitment of macrophages but to only a small extent in expression of p75.