Dentists' Attitudes to the Preprocedural Safety Checklist "Time-Out" in Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVES: Before performing medical procedures, there is a patient safety initiative process (also referred to as "time-out"), part of this process is the use of a preprocedural safety checklist. This initiative was envisioned by the World Health Organization, supported by various accreditation bodies who include the process in their standards. Dentistry lags behind its medical colleagues in using it presurgical or invasive procedure. Our aim was to understand dentists' attitudes and knowledge about the process and their adherence to it. METHODS: A cross-sectional questionnaire was distributed between September and December 2021 and 102 dentists responded. RESULTS: Seventy three of the respondents (71.5%) claimed to be familiar with the time-out process, and 87 (85.3%) felt that it was an important or somewhat important process; however, only 62 (60.7%) were always performing the process before surgical or invasive outpatient procedures. CONCLUSIONS: Patient safety must be given priority, as such it has been shown that preprocedural checklists help reduce medical errors. Recognizing the value of performing such a process, accreditation bodies have included the process in their standards and indeed in the Joint Commission focused patient safety goals.

Panoramic Indices: An Aid to Early Detection of Patients with Low Bone Mineral Density.

Objective An early identification of patients who are at an obvious increased risk of osteoporosis and subsequent high risk of pathological bone fractures is important to prevent morbidity and its subsequent impact on the quality of life of the affected patients. Dental professionals have a chance of identifying such cases in their very initial stages through routinely prescribed dental radiographs. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of gender and age on different parameters of alveolar bone loss using orthopantomograph (OPG) as an aid to identify patients with low bone mineral density (BMD). Materials and Methods This study included eighty subjects in whom after taking OPGs, mandibular cortical index (MCI), mandibular cortical width (MCW), and panoramic mandibular index were assessed, while the results obtained were subjected to statistical analysis. One-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey's test was used to compare the means, while p -value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The findings of this study revealed a significant association between MCI and age for females, with C2 and C3 categories being more common with advancing age. Also, a significant difference could be seen in relation to gender ( p -value = 0.0315) for MCW with a concomitant decrease in the values of MCW in females over 60 years of age. Conclusion Panoramic radiographic measurements could provide valuable information and help in screening patients with low BMD.

Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among dentists in the Hail Region of Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Dentists suffer a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) but studies are quite limited. The present study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of MSDs among dentists in the Ha'il Region, Saudi Arabia. DESIGN AND SETTINGS: A cross-sectional, questionnaire study was conducted among 80 licensed dentists af.filiated with the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ha'il Region, Saudi Arabia from January 2014-January 2015. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire, based on the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was sent to participants after translation to Arabic. The questionnaire was delivered by mail with a prepaid return envelope. RESULTS: Sixty-eight questionnaires (85%) were returned. The prevalence of MSDs among respondents was 77.9% (n=53) with the most commonly affected areas the lower back (73.5%) (39/53) followed by the neck (66%) (35/53) and the shoulders (43.3%) (23/53). Twenty-four (45.2%) of 53 respondents had experienced MSDs in the neck and lower back at the same time throughout the past twelve months. Nearly 85% (45/53) of respondents were found to have MSDs affecting two or more sites. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of MSDs was high among dentists in the Ha'il region. Lower back, neck and shoul.ders were the most commonly affected body sites.

Treatment of long standing bilateral temporomandibular joint ankylosis with condylar prosthesis.

INTRODUCTION: TMJ ankylosis is a condition which results in partial to complete inability to open the mouth due to fusion of head of condyle and glenoid fossa. CASE REPORT: A 28 year old man reported to our department with a complaint of inability to open mouth since 13 years. On basis of clinical examination, radiographs and CT scans, he was diagnosed with complete bilateral bony TMJ ankylosis. The treatment plan included bilateral condylectomy with coronoidectomy through a combination of endaural and rhytidectomy incision and interpositional grafting with temporalis myofascial flap. Reconstruction of the TMJ was done with specially designed stainless steel partial condylar prosthesis. Extended genioplasty was done to advance the chin. Post-operative early physiotherapy was initiated with a custom made oral physiotherapy device. Complete oral rehabilitation was done with fixed partial dentures, and patient is on regular follow up. RESULTS: Patient had mouth opening of 29 mm and also had a satisfactory esthetic appearence.

Analgesic efficacy of tramadol and butorphanol in mandibular third molar surgery: a comparative study.

BACKGROUND: Butorphanol tartrate, a mixed synthetic agonistantagonist opioid analgesic has been used for management of postoperative pain in minor and major surgical procedures.(14,20) Tramadol hydrochloride is a centrally acting opioid which is effectively used in postoperative pain in various minor and major surgeries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty subjects selected randomly received butorphanol tartrate 1 mg intramuscular and 20 subjects received tramadol hydrochloride 50 mg intramuscular after the removal of mandibular third molars. Time of injection, amount of anesthetic injected, duration of surgery, adverse effects were recorded.(21) RESULTS: The mean amount of LA administered in butorphanol group was 2.6450 ml and in tramadol group was 2.640 ml respectively, the mean duration for surgery was 56.75 and 53.5 minutes for butorphanol and tramadol groups respectively which was statistically not significant. Pain assessment was done with VAS which showed mean of 19.2 and 15.5 mm (p = 0.001) which was significant for butorphanol and tramadol respectively after 12 hours. The mean time for rescue medication requirement was 5.9 hours (for tramadol) and 8.4 hours (for butorphanol). Effective analgesic activity was seen by butorphanol 1 mg intramuscular then tramadol 50 mg. CONCLUSION: Butorphanol 1 mg was more effective than tramadol 50 mg in respect to postoperative analgesia.