Quality of life of patients treated with robotic surgery in the oral and maxillofacial region: a scoping review of empirical evidence.

BACKGROUND: There is a blooming trend in the application of robotic surgery in oral and maxillofacial care, and different studies had evaluated the quality of life (QoL) outcomes among patients who underwent robotic surgery in the oral and maxillofacial region. However, empirical evidence on the QoL outcomes from these procedures is yet to be mapped. Thus, this study was conducted to evaluate the available scientific evidence and gaps concerning the QoL outcomes of patients treated with robotic surgery in the oral and maxillofacial region. METHODS: This study adopted a scoping review design, and it was conducted and reported based on the Arksey and O'Malley, PRISMA-ScR, and AMSTAR-2 guidelines. SCOPUS, PubMed, CINAHL Complete, and APA PsycINFO were searched to retrieve relevant literature. Using Rayyan software, the retrieved literature were deduplicated, and screened based on the review's eligibility criteria. Only the eligible articles were included in the review. From the included articles, relevant data were charted, collated, and summarized. RESULTS: A total of 123 literature were retrieved from the literature search. After deduplication and screening, only 18 heterogeneous original articles were included in the review. A total of 771 transoral robotic surgeries (TORSs) were reported in these articles, and the TORSs were conducted on patients with oropharyngeal carcinomas (OPC), recurrent tonsillitis, and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). In total, 20 different QoL instruments were used in these articles to assess patients' QoL outcomes, and the most used instrument was the MD Anderson Dysphagia Inventory Questionnaire (MDADI). Physical functions related to swallowing, speech and salivary functions were the most assessed QoL aspects. TORS was reported to result in improved QOL in patients with OPC, OSA, and recurrent tonsillitis, most significantly within the first postoperative year. Notably, the site of the lesion, involvement of neck dissections and the characteristics of the adjuvant therapy seemed to affect the QOL outcome in patients with OPC. CONCLUSION: Compared to the conventional treatment modalities, TORS has demonstrated better QoL, mostly in the domains related to oral functions such as swallowing and speech, among patients treated with such. This improvement was most evident within the initial post-operative year.

School-Based Interventions on Dental Trauma: A Scoping Review of Empirical Evidence.

INTRODUCTION: Accidents involving sports or leisure activities, falls, blows from objects, acts of interpersonal violence, and accidents can all result in dental trauma (also known as traumatic dental injuries [TDIs]). School children are one of the population groups that are highly vulnerable to TDIs. Multiple school-based interventions have been conducted around the world on the prevention and management of TDIs; however, no known scoping review has been conducted to map the evidence. Hence, this study aimed to conduct a scoping review of existing school-based interventions on TDIs. METHODS: This scoping review adopted the research design presented by Arksey and O'Malley. Eight research databases-PubMed, SCOPUS, APA PsycINFO, CINAHL Ultimate, AMED (The Allied and Complementary Medicine Database), Child Development & Adolescent Studies, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and SPORTDiscuss-were searched to retrieve literature relevant to the scoping review question. Some of the retrieved literature existed in duplicate and was deduplicated using Rayyan software. Twenty papers that fulfilled the inclusion criteria were selected and reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 526 publications were retrieved from the eight databases searched in this scoping review. Ninety-seven publications were duplicates and were removed. After the two-stage screening of the deduplicated copies, only 20 peer-reviewed journal articles were relevant and included in the review. The selected studies sampled a total of 7152 participants whose ages ranged between 9 and 62 years (mean = 10.56 to 46.5; standard deviation = ±0.97 to ±8.1). The findings obtained from the reviewed journal articles revealed that pupils are at high risk of dental trauma and they are more likely to sustain these injuries during school activities. In addition, inadequate understanding, poor attitudes, and low experiential knowledge of dental trauma were found among educators, parents, and even school pupils. The evidence of long-term knowledge retention and a high knowledge score in the experimental groups buttresses the need for continuous first-aid education on dental trauma. CONCLUSIONS: The application of multiple educational approaches or modalities in schools will reinforce and promote good first-aid skills and management practices that are essential for preserving traumatized teeth.

A Scopus-Based Bibliometric Analysis of Global Research Contributions on Milk Fluoridation.

Fluoridated-milk schemes have been developed and implemented in many countries to prevent dental caries. This study aimed to evaluate the impact/influence of scientific publications, researchers, and institutions conducting research on milk fluoridation; to explore the international and inter-institutional collaboration and illustrate scientific output trends; and to pinpoint research hotspots in milk fluoridation research. This bibliometric analysis of original research articles on milk fluoridation includes all of the original articles published in peer-reviewed journals systematically extracted from the SCOPUS database. In total, 108 articles were included in this study, with a total of 11,789 citations. A majority (67.6%) of these articles were in the subject area of 'dentistry', 22.2% externally funded, 14.8% published in the journal, Caries Research, 7.4% authored/co-authored by Twetman S, 6.5% by authors from Universidad de Chile, and the UK had the highest output (24.1%). The network visualizations showed that those countries with current/past histories of implemented milk fluoridation programs were interconnected on the network visualization map, and they were predominantly the hotspots for original research on milk fluoridation. This study also identified inequalities in research outputs on the topic. With the current enormous global burden of dental caries in children, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, there is an urgent need for greater and more equitable funding of milk fluoridation research globally.