The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of soymilk, powdered milk, and Hank's balanced salt solution (HBSS) to maintain human periodontal ligament (PDL) cell viability in vitro. PDL cells were obtained from extracted healthy third molars and cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagles medium (DMEM). The cultures were exposed for 1, 2, 4, and 8 h to experimental solutions (tap water served as negative control and DMEM as positive control) at 37°C. The viable cells were then counted using the trypan blue exclusion technique. Data were analyzed by using one-way anova, post hoc Scheffe and two-way anova test. Statistical analysis showed that HBSS, powdered baby formula, and soymilk maintain cell viability equally well in different periods of times. Tap water cannot keep cells viable as well as other solutions. Soymilk and powdered baby formula can be recommended as suitable storage media for avulsed teeth for up to 8 h.

ObjectivesThe usage of medicinal plants as natural antimicrobial agents has grown in many fields including dental medicine. The aim of this in vitro study was three-fold: (i) to determine the chemical compositions of the Ferula gummosa essential oil (FGEO), (ii) to compare the antimicrobial efficacy of the oil with sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and chlorhexidine (CHX), (iii) to assess the toxic behavior of FGEO in different concentrations compared to 5% NaOCl and 0.2% CHX.Materials and MethodsGas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was used to determine the chemical compositions of the oil. The disk diffusion method and a broth micro-dilution susceptibility assay were exploited to assess the antimicrobial efficacy against Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mitis, and Candida albicans. The cytocompatibility of the FGEO was assessed on L929 fibroblasts, and compared to that of NaOCl and CHX.ResultsTwenty-seven constituents were recognized in FGEO. The major component of the oil was β-pinene (51.83%). All three irrigants significantly inhibited the growth of all examined microorganisms compared to the negative control group. FGEO at 50 µg/mL was effective in lower concentration against Enterococcus faecalis than 5% NaOCl and 0.2% CHX, and was also more potent than 0.2% CHX against Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus. FGEO was a cytocompatible solution, and had significantly lower toxicity compared to 5% NaOCl and 0.2% CHX.ConclusionsFGEO showed a promising biological potency as a root canal disinfectant. More investigations are required on the effectiveness of this oil on intracanal bacterial biofilms.

Background: Nanoparticles are made by different methodologies, which can affect the particle's features. Recently, imidazoliumcoated silver nanoparticles with a positive surface charge (PC Im-based AgNPs) have revealed favorable results as a root canal disinfectant. However, the antibacterial potency of these particles against biofilm form of Enterococcus faecalis, as the most resistant organism to eliminate in endodontic treatment, has not been investigated. It can be noted that removing this microorganism is associated with extremely effective disinfection. Objectives: This study investigated the antibacterial efficacy of PC Im-based AgNPs at 5.7 × 10-8 mol L-1 in comparison with 2.5% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and 2% chlorhexidine as the two broadly used endodontic irrigation solutions against biofilm E. faecalis using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Methods: In total, 48 premolar teeth with a single root were infected with E. faecalis and then prepared with ProTaper rotary instruments. The samples were randomly allocated into 4 groups of 12 samples. Sterile saline, PC Im-based AgNPs, NaOCl, and chlorhexidine were used as irrigants. Sampling the root canals was implemented with paper points and Gates-Glidden drills. The reduction in E. faecalis counts was calculated and statistically analyzed by means of the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results: Irrigation with PC Im-based AgNPs or NaOCl was significantly more effective in bacterial count reduction compared to irrigation with chlorhexidine or sterile saline (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between PC Im-based AgNPs and NaOCl irrigants when either Gates-Glidden drills (P = 0.751) or paper points (P = 0.488) were employed. Chlorhexidine was significantly less efficient than PC Im-based AgNPs and NaOCl solutions (P < 0.001); however, it was significantly better than sterile saline in both sampling approaches (P > 0.001). Conclusions: The PC Im-based AgNP solution revealed promising results as a root canal irrigant. This solution at 5.7 × 10-8 mol L-1 was effectively able to eliminate biofilm E. faecalis and this was not significantly different from that of 2.5% NaOCl.

Background:The high prevalence of malocclusion is a public health problem in the world and the third priority in oral care. Numerous primary studies have presented reports on the prevalence of malocclusion among Iranian children. In combination, the results of these studies using meta-analysis are highly valuable for health policy-making. Similarly, this study aimed at determining the prevalence of different types of malocclusion among Iranian children.Materials and Methods:Using relevant keywords, national and international databases were explored. After narrowing down the search strategy and leaving out the duplicates, the remaining articles were screened based on titles and abstracts. To increase search sensitivity, reference lists of the papers were examined. To identify unpublished articles and documentations, a set of negotiations were done with the people involved and research centers. Finally, the heterogeneity index between the studies was determined using Cochran (Q) and I2 tests. According to the results of heterogeneity, the random effects model was used to estimate the prevalence of malocclusion in Iran.Results:In total, 25 articles were included in the meta-analysis process. The prevalence of dental malocclusion was estimated in 28,693 Iranian children aged 3–18 years. The total prevalence of Class I, II, and III malocclusion was 54.6% (46.5–62.7), 24.7% (20.8–28.7), and 6.01% (4–7.1), respectively. The prevalence of Class I, II, and III malocclusion was 44.6% (32.9–56.2), 21.5% (18.01–25.1), and 4.5% (3.2–5.9) in boys and 48.8% (36.8–60.8), 21.5% (16.9–25.1), and 5.5% (3.9–7.1) in girls, respectively.Conclusion:This study showed a high prevalence of malocclusion among Iranian children. Also, the results indicated that the prevalence is higher in girls.

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Background Clinical practice guidelines produced by developed countries seemed to be not completely feasible for developing countries due to their different local context. In this study, we designed a customized guideline about antibiotic prophylaxis before dental procedures for Iranian general dentists. Methods This study was conducted of two parts, including a qualitative part and a cross-sectional analytic part. A multidisciplinary team searched for related guidelines and other documents, selected the most updated and high quality ones, customized their recommendations based on available antibiotics in Iran, prepared a draft adapted guideline and summarized its recommendations in 3 flowcharts. An expert panel (20 specialists of four Iranian dental universities) participated in a consensus process, afterwards to determine the relevance and clarity of the flowcharts and their items. Then the Content Validity Indices (CVIs) were calculated and any items with CVI higher than 0.79 remained. Results The adapted recommendations were summarized in flowcharts A to C. Two separate groups of patients who need antibiotic prophylaxis were presented in flowchart A; including those with high risk for distant-site infection (infective endocarditis and prosthetic joint infection) and those at risk for poor healing and orofacial infection (due to impaired immunologic function). Flowcharts B and C described antibiotic regimen and also the dental procedures where antibiotic prophylaxis was needed for mentioned groups. The content validity indices and the percentages of agreement between the expert panel members were considerably high. Conclusions A localized, clear and straight forward guideline that addresses all groups of dental patients who need antibiotic prophylaxis has been produced for Iranian general dentists.

Background. Different factors are involved in the incidence, etiology, metastasis, diagnosis, and treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma, including apoptosis inhibitor proteins. Baculoviral IAP repeat containing protein 6 (BIRC6) is one of the apoptosis inhibitor proteins contributing to cancer cells’ survival in many cancer types with diagnostic and treatment importance. This study is aimed at assessing the serum level of BIRC6 in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Materials and Methods. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, 60 serum samples were collected from 45 male and 15 female patients with a mean age of 61 years as the case group and 28 serum samples of healthy people as a control group. The serum samples were analyzed using a commercial sandwich ELISA kit. Results. There were no significant differences between BIRC6 serum levels in patients and healthy subjects. Moreover, we did not observe any significant relationships between BIRC6 serum levels and the patients’ demographic or clinical characteristics. Conclusions. There was no significant difference in serum BIRC6 levels in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and healthy individuals. Its use in determining the prognosis of squamous cell carcinoma or considering it a determinant marker in this type of cancer may not have a place. More in-depth studies for evaluating BIRC6 serum levels in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients are recommended for better insight into this protein’s role in diagnosing, progression, and prognosis of the disease.

Root canal irrigation is an important procedure in endodontic treatment. After mechanical preparation of root canal, NaOCl, which is the most common antibacterial irrigant, is inserted by special needles. This work helps to remove bacteria and debris and dissolves the organic tissues in the root canal. In the vicinity of the main root canal, there are a large number of microchannels attached to its wall named “dentinal tubules”. The success of irragation depends on the penetration of irrigant in these tubules, which results in killing the bacteria and preventing complexities after root canal therapy. There is rather limited earlier research on modeling of dentinal tubules. Nevertheless, it has been shown that the flow rate, insertion depth and needle types affect the flow pattern in the root canal. The concentration difference between inserted irrigant and the liquid filling the tubules is the main driving force for penetration. Diffusion of irrigant, however, is a time dependent process and should be analyzed as an unsteady problem. In prior studies, the geometry was considered as cylinders with a constant diameter of 2.5μm and the effect of tapering was neglected. In reality the diameter varies from about 2.5μm near the pulp to about 1.5μm at the distance of 1 mm from the pulp. In the present study, a more detailed and exact model of dentinal tubules geometry was considered. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used for the modeling of flow and diffusion of irrigant as a function of time. The unsteady and 3D continuity and Navier-Stokes equations as well as a scalar transport equation are solved and the flow field and the concentration of antibacterial irrigant were evaluated. The simulation results were compared to the earlier works. It was shown that the use of the correct detailed geometry of tubules led to noticeable differences compared to those found for the idealized model.