Anushree Tiwari

Periodontal diseases and functional disability are important issues of collective health among the aging groups of people. Therefore, it is of interest to establish the relationship between disability status and prevalence and severity of periodontal diseases in community-based older adults aged 65 years and above. Hence, a total of 384 of them received a complete periodontal examination and disability evaluation based on Barthel Index and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scale, with the disability being none, mild, moderate and severe. Findings showed a much higher prevalence of moderate-to-severe periodontitis in the disabled (78.3 percent) than in non-disabled persons (52.1 percent, p=0.001) and also that multivariate analysis showed that severe disability independently predicted periodontal disease (OR=3.84, 95 percent CI: 2.17-6.79, p=0.001) after controlling confounders. Thus, we show the urgent necessity of the combination of geriatric care that would help to prevent the cyclical decline of aging groups by targeting both functional capacity and oral health preservation.

The microgap formation associated with hydrophilic and hydrophobic root canal obturation systems is of interest. Hence, thirty extracted human single-rooted teeth were randomly divided into two groups (n=15 each): Group I - obturated (Resilon with Epiphany sealer) and Group II - obturated hydrophobic system (Gutta-percha with AH Plus sealer). After obturation, the samples and microgaps were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) at 2000x magnification. Group I (hydrophilic) showed a significantly lower mean microgap of 2.36 ± 0.52 μm, while Group II (hydrophobic) exhibited a higher mean microgap of 5.81 ± 0.89 μm. Thus, hydrophilic obturation systems showed superior sealing ability with minimal microgap formation compared to hydrophobic systems.

Light Amplified Stimulated Emission of Radiation (LASER) is nowadays widely studied regarding their use in endodontics and restorative dentistry. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the antibacterial activity of three types of LASERs namely CO2 LASER.Er, Cr:YSGG LASER and Diode LASER in disinfection of root canals. 70 patients (105 single rooted teeth) were included in the study. There was application of 2% Sodium Hypochlorite (NaOCl), 2780 nm Er,Cr:YSGG LASER, 900 nm Diode LASER and CO2 LASER. Microbial samples were collected from root canals both before and after the interventions through paper points. These parameters were evaluated in microbiology laboratory to obtain Log10 Colony Forming Units (CFUs). There was significant reduction in CFUs of microorganisms inside root canal in all three LASERs evaluated and NaOCl. The reduction in CFUs in LASERs was comparable to NaOCl. Then secondly we applied each LASER in combination with NaOCl. It was observed that reduction in CFU was greater when combination of LASER with NaOCl was applied as compared when applied alone. It can be inferred that LASER when applied with NaOCl can have significant role in disinfection of root canals.

A sizable percentage of the population in India still does not have easy access to dental facilities. Therefore, it is of interest to document the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in oral surveillance of underserved communities. Available data shows that AI makes it possible to screen, diagnose, track, prioritize, and monitor dental patients remotely via smart devices. As a result, dentists won't have to deal with simple situations that only require standard treatments; freeing them up to focus on more complicated cases. Additionally, this would allow dentists to reach a broader, more underprivileged population in difficult-to-reach places. AI fracture recognition and categorization performance has shown promise in preliminary testing. Methods for detecting aberrations are frequently employed in public health practise and research continues to be focused on them.

An artificial intelligence (AI) program called ChatGPT that generates text in response to typed commands has proven to be highly popular, as evidenced by the fact that OpenAI makes it available online. The goal of the present investigation was to investigate ChatGPT's potential applications as an outstanding instance of large language models (LLMs) in the fields of public dental health schooling, writing for academic use, research in public dental health, and clinical practice in public dental health based on the available data. Importantly, the goals of the current review included locating any drawbacks and issues that might be connected to using ChatGPT in the previously mentioned contexts in healthcare settings. Using search phrases including chatGPT, implications, artificial intelligence (AI), public health dentistry, public health, practice in public health dentistry, education in public health dentistry, academic writing in public health dentistry, etc., a thorough search was carried out on the Pubmed database, the Embase database, the Ovid database, the Global Health database, PsycINFO, and the Web of Science. The dates of publication were not restricted. Systematic searches were carried out for all publications according to inclusion and exclusion criteria between March 31, 2018, and March 31, 2023. Eighty-four papers were obtained through a literature search using search terms. Sixteen similar and duplicate papers were excluded and 68 distinct articles were initially selected. Thirty-three articles were excluded after reviewing abstracts and titles. Thirty-five papers were selected, for which full text was managed. Four extra papers were found manually from references. Thirty-nine articles with full texts were eligible for the study. Eighteen inadequate articles are excluded from the final 21 studies that were finally selected for systemic review. According to previously published studies, ChatGPT has demonstrated its effectiveness in helping scholars with the authoring of scientific research and dental studies. If the right structures are created, ChatGPT can offer suitable responses and more time to concentrate on the phase of experimentation for scientists. Risks include prejudice in the training data, undervaluing human skills, the possibility of fraud in science, as well as legal and reproducibility concerns. It was concluded that practice considering ChatGPT's potential significance, the research's uniqueness, and the premise-the activity of the human brain-remains. While there is no question about the superiority of incorporating ChatGPT into the practice of public health dentistry, it does not, in any way, take the place of a dentist since clinical practice involves more than just making diagnoses; it also involves relating to clinical findings and providing individualized patient care. Even though AI can be useful in a number of ways, a dentist must ultimately make the decision because dentistry is a field that involves several disciplines.

Lip biting is a very common issue that dentists encounter, particularly with younger children following a dental procedure. Several studies have reported soft tissue injuries, specifically lip biting following dental treatment under local anesthesia, mostly with an inferior alveolar nerve block. However, such injury with topical anesthesia has never been reported in more than 20 years, and literature has not touched on it much. The next generation of dentists can use this case report as a reference when treating young children. Lip biting can be avoided with risk assessment and the right preventative measures; if it does occur, appropriate palliative care must be given to treat it. This case report presents a case of lip biting by a four-year-old child after undergoing a dental restorative procedure under topical anesthesia.

Background: The study aimed to compare the clinical efficacy, safety, and acceptability of buffered lidocaine (8.4% sodium bicarbonate and 2% lidocaine with 1:80,000 adrenaline) versus non-buffered lidocaine (2% lidocaine with 1:80,000 adrenaline) during inferior alveolar nerve block. Materials and methods: Fifty patients who required bilateral extractions in a single arch were included in this study. One hundred extractions were carried out, and all of the patients had nerve blocks during the procedure. We also took note of the patient's pain level as measured on a visual analog scale, as well as the start of the action, duration of postoperative analgesia, and occurrence of any problems. The duration of anesthesia was assessed by the feeling of numbness and the first sign of pain. Result: All the patients in both study groups reported subjective numbness of the lips and tongue. The depth of anesthesia was evaluated by pain and comfort during the procedure with a visual analog scale and showed no significant difference between the two groups. The onset of action for the pterygomandibular nerve block was 1.240.31 minutes (buffered) and 1.710.51 minutes (non-buffered). When compared, the duration of anesthesia was 327.18102.98 minutes (buffered) and 129.0826.85 minutes (non-buffered). Conclusion: This study concludes that the buffered solution has a faster onset of action than the non-buffered solution. Both solutions exhibit similar intraoperative efficacy. The duration of postoperative anesthesia was prolonged with buffering. Buffering also reduced pain scores during the early postoperative period.

Background: Incarcerated individuals usually exhibit high oral health needs than the average population. Several factors contribute to these needs both before incarceration and during the sentence itself. Inmates are a marginalized group, who are at a higher risk for a variety of medical, dental, and emotional disorders than the general population. The aim of the study was to assess of effects of the imprisonment period on the oral health status of inmates. Material and Methods: A total of 532 inmates with imprisonment up to three years, three to six years, and six to ten years were included in the study. Incidence and prevalence of dental caries, decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) index, and periodontal and prosthetic status were evaluated in detail. Results: Results showed that the prevalence of dental caries was relatively high among the convicts. It was found that 98.2% of the inmates had one or more teeth decayed. Additionally, 31.2% (pocket >4mm) of the inmates had poor periodontal status with 4.5% of the subjects having a loss of attachment score of 4-5mm or more. A total of 3.5% of the inmates had full dentures, either upper or lower arch. The relative need for full prosthesis was projected to be around 1.4% of the studied population. Conclusion: Within the limitations of the study, the authors found that dental healthcare delivered and received by the inmates is much below the acceptable limit. Additionally, the incidence of dental caries in inmates was unexpectedly higher with tooth decay in 98.2% of subjects. Hence, the need of the hour is to critically incorporate and reinforce our efforts with a special focus on the risk factors of oral health.

Lead in any form is harmful for the human body. It is dispersed into the environment through battery manufacturing, foundry, ammunition, lead paint, water pipes and other manmade products. It can enter the body through various pathways such as, air, water, soil, food, and dust. Concern arises, as no amount of lead is safe for the human body. The detrimental effect is higher when children get exposed, as it can interfere with the neonatal neurobehavioral development, and can also lead to low IQ, low birth weight, and fetal death. This review assesses the risk factors of lead toxicity in children, trends in childhood lead poisoning, pediatric burden in low-income countries, and its prevention, intervention, and management in children.