Relationship between oral hygiene state and levels of oral sensory perception and motor ability.

It has been postulated that subjects with high levels of oral sensory perception and motor ability are able to achieve higher standards of oral hygiene even under different dietary regimes. In this study, eleven dental personnel volunteers were started on a low-sucrose diet for one week, followed by a high-sucrose diet for another week, while eleven others followed a reverse-order dietary regime. Oral sensory perception and motor ability were assessed by the oral stereognosis test and a test for oral motor ability. There was a greater trend for subjects to have more plaque on their teeth when they were on the high-sucrose diet, even when normal oral hygiene procedures were taken. There were no significant correlations between the state of oral hygiene and levels of oral sensory perception and motor ability. These results do not support the hypothesis that subjects with high levels of oral sensory perception and motor ability are likely to achieve better oral hygiene.

Computerized densitometric analysis of interproximal bone levels in a controlled clinical study into the treatment of periodontal bone defects with ceramic hydroxyapatite implant material.

The aim of this controlled clinical study was to utilize computer-assisted densitometric analysis of radiographs to assess the effectiveness of treating periodontal osseous defects with a sintered hydroxyapatite implant material. It was found that over the 2-year period of the study for the osseous defects treated by the implant material, there was a gain in the height of the hard tissue relative to the cemento-enamel junction; this gain was statistically significant compared with the results for the control sites.

A comparison of 4 techniques for clinical detection of early plaque formed during different dietary regimes.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of 4 clinical techniques used in detecting early plaque during a period of dietary sucrose restriction and during a period of sucrose supplementation. The accumulation of plaque during experimental periods of 3 h, 6 h and 18 h was recorded in a group of 38 dental personnel for the 1st part of the study, and in a group of 32 for the 2nd part. Plaque levels were assessed using a caries probe, a plaque detection probe, erythrosin and a 2-tone disclosing agent. There was a progressive increase in plaque over the period of the study, with significant variation between the detection methods used and the sites being assessed. Plaque formed more rapidly interdentially and on the posterior teeth. 3 h after the teeth had been thoroughly cleaned, plaque was detectable on over 12% of sites for the sucrose-restricted diet and on up to 23% of sites for the sucrose-supplemented diet. After 18 h of plaque formation, the proportion of plaque-covered surfaces had increased to between 52% and 73%. For minimal amounts of plaque, the disclosing solutions were found to be the most sensitive assessment techniques. However, for moderate and abundant plaque deposits, the techniques using the probes resulted in a greater degree of differentiation in the proportional measurements of plaque. Overall, the plaque probe was found to be as sensitive or better than the other techniques under most conditions and was favoured on clinical grounds, as it aided access to the interdental areas and provided a contrasting colour at the tip to enable plaque to be detected with greater ease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effect of variation in dietary sucrose intake on plaque removal by mechanical means.

The influence of dietary sucrose on the rate of plaque formation was investigated for 22 dental personnel. The subjects were instructed to continue their normal oral hygiene procedures throughout the study period. It was found that an increase in the frequency of sucrose intake resulted in an enhancement of plaque deposition and an increase in gingival inflammation. The restriction of dietary sucrose for this group of subjects had a minimal effect on either plaque retention or levels of gingival inflammation; this result might have been caused by the habitual diet of these particular subjects being relatively low in sugar. The results of this study would suggest that an assessment of sucrose intake of patients might be appropriate when planning an oral hygiene programme, consideration being given to modifying the diet as an aid to plaque removal for individuals having a relatively high intake.