Effectiveness of crystallization test in screening of potentially malignant oral disorders and oral cancer.

AIM: This study aims to determine the effectiveness of crystallization test in screening of oral potentially malignant disorders (PMDs) and oral cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients of oral PMD, 30 patients of oral cancer and 40 normal healthy people were selected. One drop of blood was collected and added to 1 cc of double-distilled water at room temperature to get a final dilution of 6% hemolyzed blood. 0.1-0.2 cc of this blood sample is added to 10 cc of 20% cupric chloride solution and further is subjected to crystallization test. RESULTS: In the normal healthy group, the pattern was typical with an eccentrically placed center of gravity with needles arranged in radiating fashion. Whereas in oral PMD and cancer groups, there was "transverse form" formation. This test had sensitivity and specificity of about 83.33% and 86.84% for PMDs group and 96.30% and 86.84% for oral cancer group respectively. CONCLUSION: Crystallization test was found to be sensitive, reliable, economical and less-invasive procedure for screening of oral PMDs and oral cancer.

Gender determination using diagonal measurements of maxillary molar and canine teeth in davangere population.

BACKGROUND: Mesiodistal and buccolingual measurements of the teeth have been the traditional means of determining gender which sometimes are difficult to measure. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To assess the degree of sexual dimorphism in upper permanent canines and first molars using diagonal diameters and to evaluate the applicability of diagonal measurements in sex determination. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mesiobuccal-distolingual (MBDL) and distobuccal-mesiolingual (DBML) measurements of the crown and cervix of maxillary canine and maxillary molar were taken using digital vernier callipers in 100 upper dental casts obtained from 50 males and 50 females of the age group of 17-25 y. RESULTS: With step wise discriminant function analysis, results were statistically significant with males showing higher diagonal measurement values. The classification accuracy for males was 69% and in females was 73% with overall accuracy of 71%. RESULTS showed that canines exhibited highest accuracy with cervical measurements being more dimorphic. MBDL measurements were found to be more reliable. Most dimorphicmeasurements included right molar cervical MBDL, left molar cervical MBDL followed by right and left molar crown MBDL. CONCLUSION: In cases of tooth rotations, crowding, certain fillings and attritions where traditional mesio-distal and bucco-lingual measurements are not applicable, diagonal measurements could be of help in predicting gender.