Pharyngeal pack placement in minor oral surgery: A prospective, randomized, controlled study.

We conducted a prospective, randomized, controlled study to investigate the influence of pharyngeal pack placement on postoperative nausea, vomiting, and throat pain after minor oral surgery. Our study group was made up of 80 patients-45 men and 35 women, aged 19 to 52 years (mean: 27.3)-who underwent a minor oral surgical procedure under general anesthesia. Patients were randomly assigned to one of three groups: 20 patients who received a pharyngeal pack under videolaryngoscopic guidance (video guidance group), 20 who had a pack placed blindly (blind insertion group), and 40 patients who received no pack at all (control group). Postoperative nausea occurred in only 4 patients (20%) in the blind insertion group (p < 0.007). No patient experienced postoperative vomiting. Postoperative throat pain occurred in all 20 video guidance patients (100%), in 17 of the blind insertion patients (85%), and in 20 of the controls (50%). The difference between the controls and each of the two pack groups was statistically significant (p < 0.006); the difference between the two pack groups was not significant.

Mandibular angle augmentation using solid silicone implants.

BACKGROUND: The demand for facial esthetics has increased dramatically to overcome the ongoing aging process and/or improve facial appearance. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of using bilateral silicone implants for mandibular angle augmentation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study involved a prospective analysis of the outcomes of the mandibular angle region augmentation with bilateral silicone implants in 58 patients (2 males and 56 females) within 1 year. All the data was collected either from patients' interviews or their records, after receiving the ethical approval from the relevant hospital. The collected patients' data was analyzed based on 3 main outcomes: occurrence of implant displacement, presence of postoperative infection and patient satisfaction. Only the patients who completed a follow-up of 6 months postoperatively were included in this study. RESULTS: A total of 58 patients received bilateral silicone implants at the mandibular angle with a total of 116 implants, out of which 96 were found intact, with no evidence of complications. The total number of implants that were infected was 5 (4.3%), 16 implants were found displaced (13.8%) and only 3 patients of those without complications were dissatisfied with the final facial appearance (6%). CONCLUSIONS: Using solid silicone implants in the augmentation of the mandibular angle resulted in low postoperative infection and displacement rates, as well as in high patient satisfaction.

The effectiveness of sequencing virtual patients with lectures in a deductive or inductive learning approach.

BACKGROUND: Virtual patients (VPs) can be sequenced with other instructional methods in different ways. AIM: To investigate the effect of sequencing VPs with lectures in a deductive approach, in comparison with an inductive approach, on students' knowledge acquisition, retention, and transfer. METHODS: For two different topics, 84 out of 87 students have participated in the lecture and VP sessions. Students from female and male campuses have been randomly assigned to one of the two learning approaches (deductive and inductive), yielding four experimental groups. Each group received a lecture session and an independent VP learning activity, which either followed the lecture session in the deductive group or preceded it in the inductive group. Students were administrated knowledge acquisition and retention written tests as well as transfer tests using two new VPs. RESULTS: There was no significant effect for the learning approach on knowledge acquisition or retention, while for knowledge transfer, males have benefited from the inductive approach in topic 1 while in the more complex topic 2, they have benefited from the deductive approach. On the other hand, females seem to be largely unaffected by learning approach. CONCLUSIONS: Sequencing VPs in inductive and deductive learning approaches leads to no significant differences on students' performance when full guidance is offered in the inductive approach.