The aim of this study was to investigate oral health behavior and attitudes of dental students in years 1 to 6 at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. The Croatian version of the Hiroshima University-Dental Behavioral Inventory (HU-DBI) was administered to predoctoral dental students, and collected data were analyzed. A total of 503 students (22.3±2.6 mean age) completed the questionnaire. The response rate was 85.1 percent, and 72.4 percent of the respondents were female. These dental students' answers to eleven out of twenty HU-DBI items differed signiicantly by academic year. The mean questionnaire score was 6.62±1.54, and the highest value of the HU-DBI score was in the fourth year (7.24±1.54). First-year students were most likely to have a toothbrush with hard bristles and felt they had not brushed well unless done with hard strokes. Students in the sixth year were least worried about visiting a dentist and most frequently put off going to a dentist until having a toothache, indicating that rise of knowledge contributes to higher self-conidence. The mean HU-DBI score for these students showed average value, pointing out the need for a comprehensive oral hygiene and preventive program from the start of dental school.Dr. Badovinac is Research Assistant,

Both monophasic and biphasic materials show good biocompatibility and osteoconductivity with satisfactory support on implant stability. BBS remains more stable in terms of volume maintenance and radiological graft homogeneity after a healing period of 6 months.

Periodontal disease represents a strong, independent, and clinically significant risk factor for PTB in the studied cohort. There are strong indicators that periodontal therapy should form a part of preventive prenatal care in Croatia.

No abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of dental caries, DMFT score and treatment needs in a group of diabetic patients (n = 222), mean age 46.9 yr, and to compare them to those recorded in a control group (n = 189), mean age 43.9 yr, using WHO criteria. Relations between the type and duration of diabetes mellitus, diabetic complications (retinopathy and neuropathy), diabetic control, and the subjects' DMFT status were separately studied. The results obtained revealed no difference in the prevalence of caries between the group of diabetics and the control group. Neither was any difference found in the mean numbers of teeth with fillings, but the number of extracted teeth per subject was significantly higher in the group of diabetics (12.3) than in the control group (9.7) (P less than 0.01). Type I diabetics were found to have a significantly higher number of teeth with fillings (4.05 vs. 2.22) than the non-insulin dependent diabetics (P less than 0.001). Type II diabetics, however, had a significantly higher number of extracted teeth (14.1 vs. 10.4) (P less than 0.001). There was no difference in the caries experience regarding duration of diabetes, diabetic control, or diabetic complications.