The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the color stability of two brands of porcelain teeth and three brands of acrylic denture teeth. Samples were immersed into three staining drinks as test groups and distilled water as a control. Color measurements of teeth were performed by using a spectrophotometer. Before immersion, the initial color value of each tooth was recorded. Color change values were determined after 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks of immersion. Color differences were characterized using the CIE L*a*b* color space. The color stability of all teeth was significantly affected by the immersion period (p<0.0001). Instant coffee was found to be the most chromogenic agent among the solutions tested (p<0.0001). Among the materials tested, porcelain was found to be more resistant to discoloration. It was concluded that acrylic teeth showed a higher degree of color change and that the amount of color change for each group increased proportionally with time.

The radiographic quality of root fillings correlated with periapical radiographic signs of pathosis in a selected population of Turkish adults. There is a need to improve the standards of root canal treatment in the study population.

The purposes of this study were to obtain information about the social and demographic proile of students enrolled in the irst private Turkish dental school, to gather information regarding the reasons for their preferences, and to obtain data about their career expectations. Questionnaires were distributed to 278 students; 229 returned the survey for an overall response rate of 82 percent. Of the respondents, 145 (65.5 percent) were females and seventy-ive (34.5 percent) were males; they had an average age of 21.62±1.58. First degree relative (mother, father, sibling) had the greatest inluence on the students in choosing dentistry as a career. Fathers and mothers had similar impact on the students' choice of dental profession (45.9 percent and 46.6 percent, respectively). Humanistic feelings, desire to serve others, and reasonable working hours were the predominant reasons that motivated females to become a dentist (p<0.05). Also, academic interest and interest in a medical ield were signiicantly inluencing factors for female students (p<0.05 and p=0.001, respectively). One-hundred and ninety-seven students (86 percent) expressed a goal of specializing in a speciic branch of dentistry; orthodontics and oral and maxillofacial surgery were the top-ranked specialties. Although only 41 percent of the students were of Istanbul origin, 82.5 percent reported that they wish to practice in Istanbul.Dr. Tanalp is Associate Professor,

Within the limitations of this study, UniCore quartz fiber posts provided the highest resistance. This methodology may specifically be advantageous for teeth with arrest of development at early stages, as these teeth are more susceptible to fracture owing to their excessively weak dentinal walls.

This study was conducted to evaluate the predoctoral removable partial denture (RPD) curricula in Turkish dental schools in regards to materials, techniques, and approaches. A questionnaire consisting of eighteen multiple-choice questions was sent by e-mail to the senior members of the prosthodontic departments of seventeen long-established dental schools in Turkey. The response rate was 100 percent. All schools (100 percent) used custom trays for making inal impressions of partially dentate arches, taught border molding of the custom tray for the edentulous areas, used modeling plastic impression compound in border molding the inal impression trays, and used base metal alloys for RPD frameworks. None of the schools had an in-house laboratory that fabricates RPD frameworks, and none of the students cast the frameworks of their own RPDs. The majority of schools used irreversible hydrocolloid as a inal impression (70.6 percent) and dental surveyor (76.5 percent) in the designing of RPDs. The majority of schools did not lask their own RPDs (64.7 percent), did not treat patients using RPDs with attachments (76.5 percent), and did not perform the altered cast technique in bilateral and unilateral distal extension RPD cases (76.5 percent). Sixteen schools (94.1 percent) had a minimum number of RPD arches that a student must complete in order to graduate. It was found that predoctoral RPD curricula in Turkish dental schools were both variable and similar.