Objectives: the purpose of this study was to assess the dental tooth decay profile of an elderly population from Northern Portugal. Material and Methods: this is a descriptive, cross-sectional study where a questionnaire, intended to assess the institutionalized elders oral health condition, was applied with the purpose of quantifying certain oral conditions. Tooth decay was assessed using the DMFT Index for the crown’s tooth and the individual radicular caries index (RCIi) for the root’s condition assessment. Univariate analysis and multivariable logistical regressions were performed (p < 0.05) using the IBM© SPSS© Statistics vs.19.0. Results: three hundred and seventy-two elderly participants were assessed with an average age of 78.8 years, of which 260 were women (69.9%). Of the sample 30.4% had no literacy and 18.3% were dependent on their daily oral hygiene care, 30.9% (95%CI:26.2%-35.6%) were edentulous and 84.9% (95%CI:81.3%-88.5%) had less than 20 teeth. The average number of teeth was 8.9 (±8.7) and the DMFT was 25.6 (± 7.3). The RCIi for men was 44.3% (±  30.4%) and 39.4% (± 31.2%) for women. Using multivariate logistical regression model the outcome RCIi≥20% was shown to be significantly and positively associated with the use of removable partial dentures (metal partial dentures: OR=5.348 (95%CI:1.176-24,329; p = 0.030) as well as with daily tooth brushing (no toothbrushing: OR = 2.802 (95%CI:1.445-5.433); p = 0.002). Conclusion: the prevalence of tooth decay in this elder institutionalized population of Northern Portugal is high, mostly due to bad oral hygiene habits associated to the use of metal removable partial dentures. Institutionalized elderly need protocols tailored to their oral health needs and integrated efforts in the institutions are needed to effectively answer the demands related to the elderly cognitive and motor skills (ageing deterioration) decline of physiological functions.KEYWORDSElderly; Oral health; Prosthesis; Root caries.

Background: The objective was to determine if asymmetric facial features, nasal and chin deviations, affect the perception of attractiveness of a dental midline angulation, and if it is consistent among both dentists and laypeople. It was also analyzed if factors, such as the sex, age group of the participants and the dentist’s area of operation are relevant in their assessment. Methods: A cross-sectional study, approved by the Ethics Committee of Fernando Pessoa University. From a symmetrical facial model (SFM) image, a natural-looking asymmetrical face was created. Based on this asymmetric facial model six images were created, with different directions and degrees of inclination of the dental midline. In total, 236 laypersons and 242 dentists completed the online questionnaire where they rated the self-perception of attractiveness of the eight images (VAS scale from 0 to 10). Non-parametric comparisons (IBM© SPSS Statistics vs. 27.0, p < 0.05). Results: The results showed a significant difference in the perception of attractiveness between laypeople and dentists. This finding was consistent regarding every image, except for the SFM. The factors, sex of the people participating and dentist’s area of operation, seemed only to contribute to a significant difference in the perception when it came to the SFM. The perceived attractiveness of the images, for dentists and laypersons, did not differ by age group of the participant, apart from images 6 and 8. Conclusions: Dentists are more rigorous about dental midline inclinations than laypersons. The perception of attractiveness was affected by the age group and sex of the participants and the dentist’s area of operation.

Objective: This integrative review aimed to identify studies comparing the periodontal health in patients wearing multibracket orthodontic appliances and clear aligners. Materials and methods: An integrative literature search was performed through different databases, PubMed/Medline, PMC, and the Cochrane Library. This work was submitted to a search strategy following the PICO method and included the focus question: “Could the chosen orthodontic appliance change significantly the oral hygiene of the patient, impairing the periodontal health?” This work included analytical and controlled studies on humans published between 2005 and 2020, in the English language, establishing a comparison of the periodontal status in patients undergoing orthodontic multibracket and clear aligners therapies. The main periodontal indexes assessed were plaque index (PI), pocket depth (PD), gingival index (GI), and bleeding on probing (BoP). Results: The electronic research displayed 386 articles on PMC, 106 on PubMed, and 40 on the Cochrane Library. After removal, just 25 articles were selected for full-text screening, but just eight studies were eligible for this integrative review. It was enumerated that 204 patients were treated with aligners and 294 with multibracket orthodontic appliances, mainly elastomeric ligated brackets. Only the plaque index displayed a significant difference between the two groups and general data obtained showed a better control for periodontal health in the clear aligners. Limitations such as age, malocclusion severity, therapeutic choice, and different time measure was observed. In addition, the oral hygiene instruction and follow-up by a professional were different, and the role of malocclusion was not present in the studies. Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study, better results for periodontal health were found in the clear aligners. Therefore, more studies are necessary to affirm that aligners are synonymous with better gingival conditions in comparison with multibracket appliances. Other variables such as oral hygiene instructions, motivation, and supportive treatment tend to be more prevalent than the type of appliance itself in the periodontal evaluation.

The present study had a convenience sample with 236 laypeople and 242 dentists who completed an online questionnaire to choose the most attractive image among six pairs for comparison. Control image: symmetric (parallelism between occlusal plane (OP), commissural line (CL), and interpupillary line (IL)). Change of Control, obtaining three images with a 3-degree inclination of the labial commissures. Image A: OP parallel to IL; Image B: OP parallel to CL; Image C: OP at 1.5 degree mean angulation between IL and CL. Non-parametric comparison (IBM© SPSS Statistics vs. 27.0, p < 0.05). The “Dentists” group’s decreasing order of preference (attractiveness) of the images is: Control > A > C > B (p < 0.05). In the “Lay” group, it is: Control > A > (C not ≠ B). Dentists significantly prefer more the Control and Image A than laypeople (p < 0.001). Sex (single exception in laypeople), age, and dentist’s area of activity did not interfere in the perception of attractiveness. Dentists and laypeople preferred the Control when compared to images with CL canted. In the existence of CL inclination, the preference of the groups was the IL as a reference for OP orientation, with the mean angulation or coincident with the CL being considered less aesthetic.

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