Evaluation of urinary hydroxyproline and creatinine level in patients with benign mandibular odontogenic tumor.

BACKGROUND: Odontogenic tumors are relatively common oro-facial tumors seen in our environment with challenges encountered with management in terms of inadequate infrastructure and high cost of treatment. They are often associated with bone resorption with concomitant collagen degradation and excretion of their by-products in serum or urine. The aim of this present study was to evaluate urinary hydroxyproline level in patients with benign mandibular odontogenic tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-two consecutive patients with histologically diagnosed mandibular odontogenic tumors were recruited. Twenty-two controls who matched the study group for sex and age were also recruited. The study group had CT-Scan of their lesions done. All participants were required to fast 12 hours overnight and their early morning second void urine collected between 7 a.m and 8 a.m. The collected urine samples were stored frozen at -20°C until analysis. Colorimetric method of analysis of urinary hydroxyproline and creatinine were done using Biovision hydroxyproline kit and Randox creatinine kit, respectively. The results were recorded as urinary hydroxyproline alone (µg/µl) and as urinary hydroxyproline/creatinine ratio. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 28.45 ± 6.8 years. The mean duration of the tumors in the study group was 5.9 ± 4.4 years. A mean urinary hydroxyproline/ creatinine ratio of 0.081 ± 0.129 was noted in the study group as compared to 0.016 ± 0.006 that was noted among healthy Nigerian who served as controls in the study. CONCLUSION: There was a significant increase in urinary hydroxyproline level in patients with odontogenic tumors when compared with healthy Nigerians.

Assessment of difficulty in third molar surgery--a systematic review.

PURPOSE: The aim of this review was to identify the most important variables that determine surgical difficulty of impacted third molar extractions by their consistent showing in previous studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Electronic library search for current evidence in the world literature was conducted, and relevant articles were selected, scrutinized, and the findings were compared. RESULTS: Seven articles were most relevant, and the results of the comparison of the selected articles showed that demographic variable, age; operative variables: surgeon procedure type and number of teeth extracted; and ratiographic variable, depth angulation; and root morphology, are the most consistent determinants of difficulty. CONCLUSION: Current evidence is in support of 3 categoreis of variables strongly associated with surgical diffulty of impacted third molars. The most important variables in each of these categories have been identified.

Relative impact of patient characteristics and radiographic variables on the difficulty of removing impacted mandibular third molars.

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the relative contributions of patient characteristics and radiographic variables to the difficulty of extraction of impacted mandibular third molars in a Nigerian population. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Seventy-nine consecutive patients undergoing mandibular third molar extractions were recruited for this prospective cohort study. Specific patient characteristics and radiographic variables were recorded. All extractions were performed under local anesthesia by the same oral surgeon, and the surgical difficulty was assessed based on the duration of surgery. RESULTS: Body weight (BW) (P=0.009) and body surface area (BSA) (P=0.004) were the significant patient characteristics while tooth impaction depth (P=0.002), number of roots (P=0.035), and tooth angulation (P=0.003) were the significant radiographic variables associated with surgical difficulty using a univariate analysis. A multiple linear regression model was constructed with these variables using surgical difficulty as the dependent variable. Radiographic factors were found to be the more important determinants of surgical difficulty with the depth of impaction (P=0.038) being the singular most important factor. CONCLUSION: Although the difficulty of surgical removal of impacted lower third molars is dependent on BW, BSA, impaction depth, tooth angulation, and the number of roots, radiographic variables were of greater importance with impaction depth being the most important single factor.

Trends in the characteristics of maxillofacial fractures in Nigeria.

PURPOSE: The study purpose was to assess the changes in the pattern of maxillofacial fractures in 2 different study periods. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted retrospective study of 341 patients treated for maxillofacial fractures between January 1978 and December 1982 and a prospective study of 483 patients treated between January 1995 and December 1999 at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. Data were collected on age, gender, etiologic factor, and site of injury. RESULTS: The male-to-female ratio reduced in the second period by a factor of 2.0. Patients in the age groups of 21 to 30 years and older than 60 years increased by a factor of 1.8 and 2.9, respectively, in the second period. Assaults, falls, sporting injuries, and industrial accidents in the second period increased by a factor of 1.4, 1.5, 3.5, and 1.5, respectively. The ratio between road traffic accidents and other causes changed from 3.4:1 to 2.2:1 in the second period. Mandibular fractures increased by 2% in the second study period. CONCLUSION: The data confirmed that although other etiologic factors are increasing in number, road traffic accidents remains the major etiologic factor of maxillofacial fractures in Nigeria. There is a need to enforce seat belt use, speed limit, and drink driving laws to reduce maxillofacial injuries caused by road traffic accidents; to organize preventive programs to minimize assaults, and to legislate the wearing of headgear by industrial workers.