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Background The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world and created a shift in the dental education program. This sudden change in the dental education program may have affected the academic standards of dental students. This study aimed to evaluate the overall satisfaction and effectiveness of online learning in pediatric dentistry of undergraduate dental students’ during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. Methods An anonymous online survey was sent to three dental schools, and responses were collected from dental school students. Questions included the demographics, perspectives of online classes, comparison of online and offline pediatric dentistry classes and opinions on how dental schools are handling the pandemic. Students’ perspectives on online classes were evaluated based on satisfaction with online education. Data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results Most students took online classes from home (80.9%) using Zoom (50.4%). The majority reported overall program satisfaction (74.1%) and agreed that universities implemented online classes well (55%). Students who were in favor of online classes responded more positively to questions on the effectiveness and safety of online learning (p < 0.05). Regardless of satisfaction with online education, the students agreed that the online education shift was the right decision in pandemic outbreak. Conclusions Dental students in South Korea preferred and adapted well to the web-based learning program in pediatric dentistry during COVID-19 pandemic.

Depending on the type of luxation, splint therapy results in acceptable outcomes and may be a feasible treatment option.

Supernumerary teeth (SNTs) involving both the primary and the permanent dentition constitute a common numerical dental anomaly. 1 Supernumerary teeth can occur as single or multiple teeth. The prevalence of SNTs is reported to range from 0.1% to 3.8%, 1-7 and SNTs are reported to predominately occur in the premaxilla. 8,9 It was reported that about 80% of SNTs were inversely or transversely oriented, and these teeth failed to erupt and remained impacted. 10 Impacted SNTs may cause various dental problems. They may disturb normal eruption of adjacent permanent teeth and cause undesirable displacement or undesirable root resorption of permanent teeth. 11-15 Moreover, impacted SNTs may form odontogenic cysts, and thus, early surgical intervention is usually recommended to prevent SNT-related complications. 16

Regenerating the periodontal ligament (PDL) is a crucial factor for periodontal tissue regeneration in the presence of traumatized and periodontally damaged teeth. Various methods have been applied for periodontal regeneration, including tissue substitutes, bioactive materials, and synthetic scaffolds. However, all of these treatments have had limited success in structural and functional periodontal tissue regeneration. To achieve the goal of complete periodontal regeneration, many studies have evaluated the effectiveness of decellularized scaffolds fabricated via tissue engineering. The aim of this study was to fabricate a decellularized periodontal scaffold of human tooth slices and determine its regeneration potential. We evaluated two different protocols applied to tooth slices obtained from human healthy third molars. The extracellular matrix scaffold decellularized using sodium dodecyl sulfate and Triton X-100, which are effective in removing nuclear components, was demonstrated to preserve an intact structure and composition. Furthermore, the decellularized scaffold could support repopulation of PDL stem cells near the cementum and expressed cementum and periodontal-ligament-related genes. These results show that decellularized PDL scaffolds of human teeth are capable of inducing the proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells, thus having regeneration potential for use in future periodontal regenerative tissue engineering.

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Our study showed that pro-inflammatory cytokines were more significantly expressed in the tissues surrounding the replanted teeth. Future research must be undertaken to additionally confirm the release of these cytokines and be focused on the inhibition of these cytokines to reduce inflammation of replanted teeth.

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic disorder reported rarely in dentistry. Dental practitioners should know the features of PWS because affected patients have a variety of dental symptoms. The current report describes a case of PWS. An 18-year-old male patient presented with traumatic injuries. Initial emergency treatments were performed under sedation, and further treatments were conducted under general anesthesia. After adequate healing, periodic follow-up and dietary management according to the patient's age and nutritional phase were recommended. Dental management of PWS patients consists of active preventive measures in addition to dietary consultation according to age and nutritional phase.