Prevalence and prevention of dental injuries in young taekwondo athletes in Croatia.

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of dental and facial injuries, the habit of wearing mouthguard and the awareness regarding injury prevention and first aid after tooth avulsion among young taekwondo athletes in Croatia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey on a sample of 484 taekwondo athletes was conducted, which included 271 male (56%) and 213 female (44%) athletes aged between 8 and 28 years. The questionnaire submitted to the athletes contained 15 questions about dental trauma, use of mouthguard, dental trauma prevention, level of awareness about tooth avulsion and replantation and disturbances associated with mouthguard use. Collected data were evaluated according to gender, age groups and duration of actively engagement in taekwondo. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used for comparisons between groups. RESULTS: From the survey 300 (62%) of 484 athletes had sustained one serious injury and 103 (21%) had sustained an orofacial injury, while 194 (40%) had observed another player sustaining a dental injury. Higher number of orofacial injuries was observed in males (24%) than in females (18%). Furthermore, 98 (20%) athletes have experienced one or more dental injuries, and out of these 98 suffering dental injury 60 were male (61%) and 38 were female (39%). The frequency of orofacial injuries in the older group (42%) is higher than in three younger groups (younger cadets 25%; cadets 13%; juniors 20%) (p<0.05). Mouthguard wearing was recorded in 465 athletes (96%), 47.1% of them wear stock mouthguard, 47.6% wear boil and bite mouthguard, but only 5.3% were custom-made mouthguards. Most of them (96%) consider that mouthguards are useful for injury prevention in taekwondo. CONCLUSION: The results of this survey show that dental and orofacial injuries occur in taekwondo in all age groups but mostly in the senior group. Taekwondo players know the importance of mouthguard use, but only 5% use custom made mouthguards. This is not adequate for dental injury prevention and highlights the important role of dental professional in education of athletes for advocating the use of custom made mouthguards.

Dental caries experience among secondary school children in the Vardar region of the Republic of Macedonia.

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the dental caries in 15-year-old children attending regular public secondary schools in Veles. METHODS: The study has been carried out during 2013 on adolescents aged 15.01(± 0.42).In this cross-sectional study, the secondary school children from first grades (N = 127) have been selected from 2 Secondary Schools in Veles. The dental status of the participants was evaluated on the basis of the 1997 World Health Organization caries diagnostic criteria for Decayed, Missing or Filled Teeth (DMFT) by 2 calibrated examiners. P value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The total number of children in the exercise was 127, consisting of 59 (46.46%) female and 68 (53.54.2%) male. The mean DMFT was 4.9768, with standard deviation (SD) of 3.5084 and 95% confidence interval (CI) of 4.3603-5.5925. Significant Caries (SiC) index was 8.9302. The prevalence of caries-free children was 9.45%. The percentage of untreated caries or the ration of D/DMFT was 0.5601 (56.01%). CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides some evidence of relatively high caries prevalence and severity in comparison with the Western European countries. It is necessary to dedicate more attention to the oral health of children and adolescents in our country.

One-year clinical evaluation of a Glass Carbomer fissure sealant, a preliminary study.

Glass Carbomer is a new generation of restorative material developed from glass-ionomer cements with possibility of gradual mineralization into fluorapatite. The aim of this clinical trial was to investigate the retention of Glass Carbomer fissure sealant after 12 months, in comparison to a commonly used conventional resin-based sealant. Forty-eight teeth in 24 patients [mean (SD) = 8 (2.3) years] with well-delineated fissure morphology were randomly divided into two equal groups and sealed with Bis-GMA resin-based Helioseal F (group A, Ivoclar Vivadent, Liechtenstein) and Glass Carbomer (group B, Glass Carbomer Sealant, Glass Carbomer Products, Leiden, Netherlands) using the split mouth design. Materials were placed and set according to the manufacturer's instructions using a polymerization unit Bluephase 16i (Vivadent, Liechtenstein). Complete sealant retentions in both groups were 100% and 75% after 6 and 12 months of clinical service, respectively. There were there were no secondary caries lesions in both groups after 6 months; two new carious lesions were detected in both groups after 12 months. The Mann-Whitney U test revealed no significant difference between the two groups at both evaluations points (P > 0.05). Glass Carbomer material showed a similar retention rate when compared with a resin-based sealant. Future studies are required to examine the long-term performance of Glass Carbomer sealants.

Influence of ultrasonic excitation and heat application on the microleakage of glass ionomer cements.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the influence of externally applied 'command set' methods on the microleakage of several glass ionomer cements (GICs). METHODS: Four different restorative GICs were cured using three different methods: standard curing (SC), ultrasonic excitation (UC) and by an external heat source (HC). Different conditioning agents (10% polyacrylic and 10% citric acid) were used. The sample comprised 180 teeth with 360 Class V restorations placed on the lingual and vestibular tooth surface. After thermocycling, the teeth were immersed in a dye solution for 24 hours, embedded in acrylic resin, sectioned and evaluated. Oberholtzer criteria were used for margin evaluation. Data were analysed using three-way ANOVA. RESULTS: The heat cured GIC showed statistically significant better marginal adaptation compared to the other tested groups (SC, UC) (p < 0.001). GICs in groups with HC and conditioned cavities had lower microleakage scores. The highly viscous material Fuji IX GP Fast in the HC and conditioned cavities group demonstrated the best marginal adaptation. The other three products reacted similarly to heating treatment. Leakage at the enamel margins was significantly lower than the cementum/dentine margins (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Heating the GIC during setting decreased microleakage, improved marginal adaptation of the GIC restoration and is suitable for clinical practice.

Clinical evaluation of three fissure sealants: 24 month follow-up.

AIM: This was to compare 3 different materials for fissure sealing (FS) after clinical use during the 24 month period and to assess the use of flowable composite resins in combination with dentine adhesives as sealing materials. STUDY DESIGN: There were 41 patients aged from 7-17, for whom 100 permanent molars were sealed with 3 different sealing materials. METHODS: Group A, 33 teeth were sealed with the material Helioseal Clear Chroma (Vivadent, Schaan, Liechtenstein); Group B, 33 teeth were sealed with the material Teethmate F1 (Kuraray, Kurashiki, Japan, and in Group C, 34 teeth were sealed with the flowable composite Tetric Flow (Vivadent, Schaan, Liechtenstein). For the analysis of the degree of retention, the criteria used were: 0--complete retention, 1--loss of (1/3) of material, 2--loss of (2/3) of material, 3--complete loss of material. Clinical criteria for appearance of a new caries lesion included following values: Caries present (+) or caries absent (-). STATISTICS: Chi-Square test was used for statistical analysis of retention rates between groups. RESULTS: After the 24 month period, the highest retention rate of complete retention was established for the material Tetric Flow of 76.5%, Helioseal Clear Croma 66.7%, and Teethmate F1 60.6%. The incidence of caries at Helioseal Clear Croma was 6.1%, for Teethmate F1 3%, with no statistically significant difference after the 24 months period (p=0.656). In the group of teeth sealed with Tetric Flow, there was not a single case of caries noted. CONCLUSIONS: The use of flowable composites as sealing materials is equal to other materials for fissure sealing.

Surface quality of Cerec CAD/CAM ceramic veneers treated with four different polishing systems.

AIM: To achieve satisfactory aesthetic appearance of ceramic veneers food debris retention and plaque formation, resulting in possible irritation of surrounding tissues, should be avoided. It is, therefore, necessary to decrease the roughness of ceramic surfaces as much as possible. The aim of this study was to evaluate surface roughness of ceramic veneers after polishin15038787 g with four different techniques. METHODS: Twenty veneers were fabricated using Cerec 2 CAD/CAM method (Sirona AG, Bensheim, Germany) from Cerec VITA MARK II ceramic blocks (Vita Zahnfabrik, Bad Säckingen, Germany) and cemented onto prepared extracted teeth. Veneers were divided into 4 groups of 5 specimens and polished with 4 different techniques: 1. Sof-lex discs grit 150, 360, 600, 1200 (3M, St. Paul, MN, USA); 2. Hawe brushes (Hawe Neos Dental, Bioggio, Switzerland); 3. Hawe brushes and diamond paste Diabrill (Oralia Dental GmbH, Kostanz, Germany); 4. Politip-P rubber cups (Vivadent, Schaan, Liechtenstein). Surface profile was measured using Perthometer Perthen S8P 4.5 (Feinprüf Perthen GmbH, Goettingen, Germany) profilometer. STATISTICS: Data were analysed using ANOVA with Tukey HSD test. RESULTS: Sof-lex discs revealed significant statistical differences for Rz, Ra, Rk, Rpk values (p=0.0002) (Rz=2.92 mm; Ra=0.462 mm; Rk=1.098 mm; Rpk=0.472 mm). Values for Rvk were statistically significant only for rubber cups with diamond paste (p=0,002) (Rvk 4=3.04 mm). Rvk values for all other techniques were not statistically significant (Rvk 1=1.148 mm; Rvk 2=1.936 mm; Rvk 3=2.18 mm). CONCLUSION: The best surface smoothness was achieved with Sof-lex discs polishing system. All other methods are clinically acceptable. Selection of polishing technique should be made according to geometric construction of the polishing instrument and possibility of reaching various restoration areas with the polishing instrument.

Factors predicting a child's dental fear.

The aim of the present study was to determine and assess the variables most involved in the etiology of a child's dental fear. The study was performed on a sample of 89 children aged from 5.5 to 12.5 years and their mothers. The sample comprised 37 children with experience of dental trauma (19 boys and 18 girls) and 52 children without experience of dental trauma (28 boys and 24 girls). Corah Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) was applied to evaluate the level of the child's (CDAS) and mother's (MDAS) dental anxiety. Broome's Child Medical Fear Questionnaire (CMFQ) was used to assess the child's fear of medical treatment. Hollingshead Two Factor Index of Social Position (ISP) was calculated to assess socio-economic status of the family. Cluster analysis differentiated one group of dentally anxious children with the highest level of maternal anxiety (MDAS = 14.44) and the lowest socio-economic status (ISP = 41.94). Another group of extremely anxious children (CDAS = 14.31) showed the highest fear of medical treatment (CMFQ = 22.08) and rather low socio-economic status. One group represented children with the lowest CDAS (5.63), lowest MDAS (8.46), and lowest CMFQ (13.54). Linear regression analysis showed high correlation between previous traumatic medical experiences and a child's dental anxiety using the linear model CDAS' = b0 + b1 x CMFQ. The analysis revealed that a child's dental fear mostly depends on early negative medical experience, while material dental anxiety and socio-economic circumstances seem to be of less importance.

Factors predisposing to early childhood caries (ECC) in children of pre-school age in the city of Zagreb, Croatia.

The aim of this study was to investigate factors predisposing to early childhood caries (ECC) in pre-school children in the city of Zagreb, Croatia. The investigation was carried out on the sample of 145 children (77 boys and 68 girls) aged between 2 and 5 years, including clinical examination of dental status and survey on the habits among the parents. The overall prevalence of ECC was 30%: in girls it was 25%, and in boys 48%. The study on the risk factors was designed as a classic case-control study. The mean value of dmfs index among the cases amounted to 8.6, in comparison to 5.2 in the control group (p<0.05). Bottle-feeding did not represent a significant risk, but night consumption of sweet beverages after first 24 months and the lack of introduction of teeth-brushing habit after first 24 months did (p < 0.001 for both predictors). The study revealed the importance of early introduction of teeth-brushing and giving up the nightly consumption of sweet beverages in prevention of ECC.

Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia: dental features and carriers detection.

Ectodermal dysplasia is a heterogeneous condition characterized by affected ectodermal structures, among which the teeth and skin with its derivatives (hair sweat glands) are the most frequent. The aim of this work is to present the analysis of dental traits in five families (affected boys and their mothers) with hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (HED), and to evaluate the importance of orofacial and dental findings in the determination of female HED gene carriers. Hypodontia (oligodontia) was found in all the patients. The mothers, gene carriers, had either hypodontia or a reduced size of teeth with a particular morphological, peg shape. In patients with hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia the deciduous second molar teeth were mostly affected by taurodontism. The characteristic dental finding in heterozygous females of the mandibular peg shaped incisors and canines, as well as of hypodontia or peg shaped upper lateral incisors can be used as a reliable criterion for the detection of HED gene carriers.