This study was undertaken to assess the effect of splint type on stresses occurring around traumatized tooth by photoelastic stress analysis. Three semi-rigid splint types--a wire-composite splint, fiberglass splint and titanium trauma splint--were utilized for comparisons. Extracted left upper central and lateral incisors and the canine tooth of an otherwise healthy patient were embedded equidistantly in photoelastic resin. For all cases studied, a static axial and 20 degrees oblique force of 100 N was applied on the lateral incisor in separate sessions. The experiments were undertaken without any splint application (unsplinted, control) after which the splints, adhesively bonded to the labial aspects of teeth, were consecutively tested. During each loading sequence, generation of isochromatic fringes was observed in the field of a polariscope, and photographed by a digital camera. Quantification of fringes was performed on magnified images, transferred to a PC. Under vertical loading, the highest stresses in the apical regions were observed for the unsplinted and ribbond-splint groups, whereas the lowest fringes occurred with the use of orthodontic wire as a splinting medium. Titanium trauma splint had absolutely no effect on reduction of stresses, as the fringe orders were slightly higher than the unsplinted lateral tooth. The use of orthodontic wire resulted in lowest fringe orders around the traumatized tooth.

Objectives Numerous studies have shown that the education of health professionals is essential to effectively respond to child abuse. The present study aimed to evaluate Turkish paediatric dentists' knowledge, experiences and attitudes regarding child physical abuse. Materials and methods An electronic questionnaire was e‐mailed to 518 paediatric dentists. Participants’ knowledge of diagnostic indicators of child physical abuse, and their past experiences, attitudes and self‐assessment of educational needs were evaluated. Results The response rate was 40.9% (n = 212). Participants who completed their undergraduate education before 1997 received significantly less education on child physical abuse than participants who completed their education more recently (P < 0.001). Although statistically insignificant, participants who completed their doctorate/specialty training after 2012 received increased education on child physical abuse (P = 0.06). Of the participants, 43.9% suspected physical abuse; however, only 12.7% reported it. ‘I did not know where and how to report’ was the most common reason for not reporting physical abuse. The rate of suspicion was higher among dentists from state hospitals or oral health centres (P < 0.05). Of the participants, 70.3% did not know about the legal sanctions for delay in or not reporting suspected cases. Only 15.6% assessed themselves as competent to diagnose and report physical abuse. Almost all of them acknowledged their need for more education on this topic. Conclusion Turkish paediatric dentists’ educational needs for diagnosing and reporting of child physical abuse cases should be met.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between dental age and bone age in Turkish adolescents with constitutional delay of growth and compare them with a group of normal, healthy adolescents. Left hand and wrist radiographs and dental panaromic radiographs of 33 adolescents (25 boys and 8 girls) aged between 10 and 16 years with constitutionally delayed growth were assessed. The control group comprised 41 healthy adolescents (24 boys, 17 girls) aged between 10 and 16 years. Bone age was determined according to Greulich and Pyle; dental age was assessed using the Demirjian method. In the control group, no statistical difference was found between chronological, bone and dental ages. In the group of adolescents with constitutional growth delay, there was no significant difference between chronological age and dental age, but the differences between dental age and bone age and between chronological age and bone age were found to be statistically significant. It was found that Demirjian's dental age assessment is a valid method for scoring dental age in Turkish adolescents. Adolescents with constitutional delay of growth had dental maturation appropriate for chronological age, but not for bone age.

Introduction: Parental-Caregiver Perceptions Questionnaire (P-CPQ) is one of the scales used for evaluating the quality of life of children. Dental caries is an important factor affecting oral health-related quality of life. It was aimed to translate into Turkish and evaluate the psychometric properties of the P-CPQ with the evaluation of dental caries status of 6-to 14-year-old children. Methods:Children-parent pairs attending to paediatric dental clinic were involved.After the translation and adaptation of the scale, the data were collected from the parents with the Turkish version of the P-CPQ and a short questionnaire, and then, the intra-oral examination of the children was performed by a paediatric dentist.Statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS version 22.0 and SPSS AMOS 22.The significance level was 0.05. Confirmatory factor analysis for construct validity; and item analysis, item discrimination index and the Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficient for reliability measurement were calculated. Discriminant validity was tested by comparing the median P-CPQ scores between children with caries experience and those without.Results: Totally, 312 children-parent pair (52.9% female) participants were involved.The mean age of participated children was 9.00 ± 1.89. P-CPQ score was calculated by summing the scores of all 31 items; the mean score of the parents was 18.8 ± 12.8. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.87 and ranged from 0.680-0.795 for four subscales. The relationship between total and subscales was found to be statistically significant. Confirmatory factor analysis, item analysis and item discriminant index were approved. Model fit values were admissible.Conclusions: Turkish version of P-CPQ was created, and it had good internal consistency reliability of subscales and found to be valid in 6-to 14-year-old children.

Background. Due to the increase in the prevalence of asthma, especially in childhood, oral health problems arising from the use of asthma medications have become a major health concern. Inhaled corticosteroids are widely used since they are the cornerstone of asthma management. This study aimed to investigate the effects of inhaled corticosteroids on oral health and various factors regarding active ingredients in inhalers, inhaler-spacer device use, rinsing the mouth after administration of inhaler, oral hygiene practices and parents' education on dental caries susceptibility in young children with asthma. Methods. Children with asthma who were treated with inhaled corticosteroids for at least 6 months were included in the study. A questionnaire related to demographic characteristics and oral health practices of children was conducted with parents and the children were examined using a dental mirror and probe under dental unit lighting after air-drying the teeth. Results. Oral health status was evaluated in 115 children, 54 (42-66) months old, 61% male and 39% female with determination of dmft-dmfs, DMFT-DMFS, ICDAS II, plaque index and gingival index. No statistically significant difference was found between sugar-containing and sugar-free inhalers, duration of inhaled corticosteroid use, inhaler-spacer device use, rinsing the mouth after administration of inhaler and dmft-dmfs, DMFT-DMFS, plaque and gingival index (p>0.05). Long-term inhaled corticosteroid use was significantly associated with oral candidiasis (p=0.029). Also, the results showed that mothers' educational level had a significant effect on children's oral health (p dmft/dmfs <0.001; p gingival index =0.049; p plaque index =0.005). Conclusion. Due to the effect of immunosuppression, long-term use of inhaled corticosteroids enhances the risk of development of the opportunistic pathogen candida. Regular dental visits and preventive dental treatments are needed in these patients for healthy oral status.