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Aims: This systematic review aimed to compare the effectiveness of sodium hypochlorite and chlorhexidine for root canal disinfection during root canal therapy. Methods:A literature search for clinical trials was made on the PUBMED (Medline), Web of Knowledge, SCOPUS, and Science Direct databases and in the reference lists of the identified articles up to January 2015. Quality assessment of the selected studies was carried out according to the CONSORT statement. Results:One clinical trial and four randomized clinical trials (RCTs) were selected from the 172 papers initially identified. There was heterogeneity in the laboratory methods used to assess the root canal disinfection as well as in the concentrations of the irrigants used. Therefore, meta-analysis was not performed. Two studies reported effective and similar reductions in bacterial levels for both irrigants. Sodium hypochlorite was more effective than chlorhexidine to reduce microorganisms in one study and another reported opposite findings. Both root irrigants were ineffective in eliminating endotoxins from necrotic pulp root canals in one study. Trial design and information regarding randomization procedures were not clearly described in the clinical trials. No study compared laboratory results with clinical outcomes. Conclusions:The available evidence on this topic is scarce and the findings of studies were not consistent. Additional RCTs using clinical outcomes to compare the use of sodium hypochlorite and chlorhexidine during root canal therapy are needed.

Aim To assess the epidemiological and clinical factors that influence the prognosis of oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Methods One hundred and twenty-one cases of oral and oropharyngeal SCC were selected. The survival curves for each variable were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The Cox regression model was applied to assess the effect of the variables on survival. Results Cancers at an advanced stage were observed in 103 patients (85.1%). Cancers on the tongue were more frequent (23.1%). The survival analysis was 59.9% in one year, 40.7% in two years, and 27.8% in 5 years. There was a significant low survival rate linked to alcohol intake (p = 0.038), advanced cancer staging (p = 0.003), and procedures without surgery (p < 0.001). When these variables were included in the Cox regression model only surgery procedures (p = 0.005) demonstrated a significant effect on survival. Conclusion The findings suggest that patients who underwent surgery had a greater survival rate compared with those that did not. The low survival rates and the high percentage of patients diagnosed at advanced stages demonstrate that oral and oropharyngeal cancer patients should receive more attention.

Putative periodontal pathogens are more prevalent in the subgingival microbiota of HIV-seronegative patients with chronic periodontitis, whereas species not usually associated with periodontitis are detected in higher frequency in HIV-seropositive subjects under HAART.

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Patients who undergo allogeneic stem cell transplantation frequently develop an immunologic disease caused by the reactivation of the graft to the host tissues. This disease is called graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and it is usually a systemic disorder. In a large proportion of cases, oral disorders that are related to a chronic phase of GVHD (cGVHD) occur, and their treatment involves the use of topical immunosuppressive drugs. Several medications have been studied for this purpose, but only a small number of clinical trials have been published. The present study is a randomized, double-blind clinical trial that compares topical clobetasol and dexamethasone for the treatment of symptomatic oral cGVHD. Patients were randomly assigned to treatment with clobetasol propionate .05% or dexamethasone .1 mg/mL for 28 days. In both arms, nystatin 100,000 IU/mL was administered with the corticosteroid. Oral lesions were evaluated by the modified oral mucositis rating scale (mOMRS) and symptoms were registered using a visual analogue scale. Thirty-five patients were recruited, and 32 patients were randomized into the study groups: 18 patients (56.3%) to the dexamethasone group and 14 patients (43.8%) to the clobetasol group. The use of clobetasol resulted in a significant reduction in mOMRS total score (P = .04) and in the score for ulcers (P = .03). In both groups, there was significant symptomatic improvement but the response was significantly greater in the clobetasol group (P = .02). In conclusion, clobetasol was significantly more effective than dexamethasone for the amelioration of symptoms and clinical aspects of oral lesions in cGVHD.

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