Gaps and hollow spaces at the implant abutment interface will act as a bacterial reservoir that may cause peri-implantitis. Hence, the sealing ability of O-ring (in addition to polysiloxane) and GapSeal (an antibacterial sealing gel) was evaluated. A total of 45 identical implant systems (ADIN Dental Implant Systems) were divided into 3 groups of 15 implants each: an unsealed group, a group sealed with O-rings, and a group sealed with GapSeal gel. The implant and abutment were gamma sterilized after assembly. Two implants from each group were randomly incubated in sterile brain heart infusion (BHI) broth tubes and checked for sterility. The remaining 13 implants were incubated in BHI broth inoculated with Enterococcus and incubated for 5 days. They were then removed from the tubes, dried aseptically, placed in 2% sodium hypochlorite solution for 30 minutes, and washed with sterile saline for 5 minutes. Next, the assembly was dried aseptically and put in sterile BHI broth tubes and incubated for 24 hours to check surface sterility. Keeping 2 implants as controls from each group, the remaining 11 implants were dismantled group-wise and placed in liquid BHI broth; the test tubes were then shaken thoroughly so that the broth would come in contact with all implant surfaces. The solution from this tube was poured on pre-prepared sterile agar plates and incubated for 24 hours. The colonies formed on the agar plate were then counted using a digital colony counter. The data thus obtained were subjected to statistical analysis by Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance and Mann-Whitney U test. It was concluded that though microbial growth is seen in all the 3 groups, the least growth was seen in the GapSeal group followed by the O-ring group.

Purpose:To determine the efficacy of hard, liquid, and soft splints in the management of myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome.Materials and Methods:In this randomized clinical trial, 45 patients with myofascial pain were diagnosed and were randomly assigned into three groups of 15 patients each. Group 1 - subjects were given hard splint, Group 2 - soft splint, and Group 3 - liquid oral splint for 3 months. Subjective pain analysis using Modified Symptom Severity Index (Mod-SSI) and objective pain analysis muscle palpation was performed at 7 days, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months after splint insertion. The changes in mean pain value by both methods, in all three groups, were analyzed with Tukey test and Kruskal–Wallis H-test, respectively (P < 0.05).Results:Both Mod-SSI and palpation scores showed statistically significant reduction in pain for all three groups at the end of 3 months. However, the hard splints proved to be very effective in a shorter period of time, followed by liquid splints and finally soft splints.Conclusion:The result of this study advocates the use of any one of the three types of the occlusal splints in the therapeutic management of myofascial pain due to temporomandibular disorders.

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