Sealants revisited: An efficacy battle between the two major types of sealants - A randomized controlled clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is comparing the retention and caries preventive effect of the glass-ionomer fissure sealant and resin-based fissure sealant. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A randomized-controlled split-mouth study was conducted to compare the retention and the caries preventive effect of light-cured resin-based sealant (3M ESPE) and glass ionomer sealant (Fuji VII). The sealants were applied to either the right or the left lower mandibular molars (7-9 yrs of age) in 120 school children, based on the randomization process. They were recalled for assessment of clinical retention at intervals of 3, 6, and 12 months. The caries-preventive effect between the two materials was tested statistically by the McNemar's test for matched pairs, and the differences observed with regard to the retention of the materials was tested by Chi-square tests. The level of significance was set to be at P < 0.05. RESULTS: At the end of 12th month, sealant retention is found to be higher in the resin-based sealant group compared to the glass ionomer group. In the glass ionomer sealants placed, 101 (91%) were caries-free and 10 (9%) had caries. In the resin-based sealant, 105 (94.60%) had sound teeth and 6 (5.4%) had dental caries (P = 0.34). CONCLUSION: The glass ionomer sealant was less retentive when compared to resin sealants. The caries incidence between the glass ionomer and resin-based sealants was not statistically significant.

Quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials in ten academic Indian dental journals.

BACKGROUND: Biased results from poorly reported trials can mislead decision-making in health care at all levels, from treatment decisions for the individual patient to formulation of national public health policies. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in ten Indian dental journals over the period 2011-2012. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included all RCTs published as full-text articles reported in ten Indian dental journals over the period from 2011 to 2012. The relevant trials were identified by searching Medline. Hand searching of the journals was also carried out by three of the authors to check if any potential trial was missing. Each article was assessed against the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials criteria tool, as described by Schulz et al. (2010). RESULTS: The mean number of criteria present per article was 12.2 (standard deviation [SD] =2.2) and only 5 of 106 articles got total possible score. Most of the articles (69%) did not mention about justification for sample size calculation, 89% of the articles did not mention about allocation concealment, 86% of the articles did not mention about funding and 63% of the articles did not mention about limitations of the study. CONCLUSION: The quality of reporting of Randomized clinical trials in ten Indian academic journals was poor.

Patient receptivity to tobacco cessation counseling and services in a dental teaching institute: a patient review.

BACKGROUND: The dentists are in a unique position to render tobacco cessation counseling to their patients. The current study is set to assess the attitudes of tobacco users toward tobacco cessation counseling attending a dental teaching institute and hospital in Andhra Pradesh. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic random sampling method was used to select the sample. Survey was conducted among 660 patients attending a dental teaching institute. Patients who have completed oral examination in the department of oral medicine and radiology were asked to complete pretested questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed in both English and Telugu (local language). RESULTS: Among the study subjects 88.9% were planning to quit the habit, 72.27% had agreed that they discussed about ill-effects of tobacco, 82% of the subjects said that dentist should routinely offer quit tobacco assistance and services. CONCLUSION: The present study indicates the majority of patients are receptive towards tobacco counseling and services in the dental setting. In this study, the majority of tobacco users were planning to quit. Majority of patients were unaware of the resources available to help them to quit. Dentists have a significant opportunity to disseminate information to patients who need assistance in quitting the habit of tobacco usage.

Modified anchor shaped post core design for primary anterior teeth.

Restoring severely damaged primary anterior teeth is challenging to pedodontist. Many materials are tried as a post core but each one of them has its own drawbacks. This a case report describing a technique to restore severely damaged primary anterior teeth with a modified anchor shaped post. This technique is not only simple and inexpensive but also produces better retention.