SUMMARYAim: Romania ranks first in Europe in terms of mortality from cervical cancer, recording 6.3 times more deaths than the mean in EU countries. Although vaccination campaigns were launched by health officials in Romania, the acceptance rate remained insignificant and programmes were discontinued. A successful vaccination programme requires a high rate of acceptance and accurate information for health professionals and parents. The aim of the study was to evaluate the level of parental knowledge about human papilomavirus (HPV) infection and HPV vaccination including the information obtained from general practitioners and identification of barriers in implementing a vaccination strategy.Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire for the parents of pupils in grades 5-8, in three randomly selected secondary schools in Tîrgu Mureş, Romania.Results: We surveyed 918 parents. Of the respondents, 85.8% have heard of HPV infection. Most reported an average level of knowledge about HPV infection and HPV vaccination. The two main sources of information were specialized healthcare professionals (42.8% for HPV infection, 39.1% for HPV vaccination) and the Internet browsing (42.3% and 42.9%, respectively). Based on current knowledge, only one third of parents would have their child vaccinated against HPV infection. According to most parents surveyed, the main reasons for not wanting to have their child vaccinated is the fear of side effects; the vaccine is new and insufficiently studied; or parents do not know details about the vaccine.Conclusions: The parents showed the average level of knowledge about HPV infection and HPV vaccination. The implementation of an effective programme to increase the acceptance rate of HPV vaccination requires educational strategies aimed at involving parents and their children and supported by general practitioners and public health professionals.

Thermoplastic aligners are frequently used in orthodontics when it comes to the correction of mild malocclusions These appliances are very popular because they provide an esthetic and comfortable alternative to conventional treatment due to their translucency and reduced thickness. The thermoplastic aligners are well fitted and offer good treatment results if they are worn properly. Aligners have less social impact than braces. The foils that are used for the vacuumforming process are made out from clear thermoplastic material, such as polyethylene or PC. The polyethylene has enough stiffness to provide the desired tooth movements and helps patients to maintain a good oral hygiene. Aligners must be changed every two or three weeks until the final result is reached. Material thickness can also be increased during the treatment period in order to assure stiffness and reduce the total treatment time.

Mini screws represent a new treatment modality in orthodontic biomechanics. They provide absolute anchorage, no secondary movements and reduced orthodontic treatment time. Futhermore, the surgical procedure for mini implants placement is quite simple and this type of treatment requires no patient compliance. We selected a clinical case in order to emphasize one of the most important indications of the mini implants: retrusion of the upper incisors for a incresed overjet case in a young patient. Two mini implants were placed in order to obtain the correction of the overjet and the retrusion of the anterior teeth. The retrusion was obtained in a reduced period of time using retraction devices on crimpable hooks.

Tooth bleaching and other cosmetic treatments (performed at home or in the dental office) are very common nowadays. The use of thermoplastic materials for the manufacturing of whitening trays should have good biomechanical properties in order to assure a good treatment outcome with a good esthetic result. The most common tray manufacturing material is an acrylic poly-resin thin foil that can be vacuum-formed in order to fit any clinical situation. The material must be inert in order to prevent harmful free radicals release form the interaction with different bleaching substances. Thermoformed trays were manufactured in our dental office and immersed in a mixed oral suspension (that also contained artificial saliva) in order to test the behavior of the material in the intraoral environment.

Orthodontic therapy using aligners is a modern treatment option among adult patients. In order to have an optimal control of the orthodontic resuslts, there is a need for knowing the deformation values that can appear in each type of aligner, the optimal thickness values of the appliances and the needed number of aligners for each case. The deformation values for a 0.2 mm repositioned lower central incisor were measured with the use of some strain gauges applied at this level, after a manual set-up was manufactured. Different orthodontic forces were applied on each aligner in order to compare the deformation value during the dental correction. The thickness values of the aligners that were used for this study were 0.625 mm, 0.75 mm and 1 mm. The 0.625 mm aligner had the lowest deformation value dueto a high elasticity of the material.