Background The public dental care sector is striving to fulfill the preventive and restorative needs of Egyptians, including pregnant women, who may not receive timely care due to misconceptions about dental treatment during pregnancy. Because of this, they are likely to suffer dental pain, with higher risk of infection affecting their offsprings. Aim of the study To compare the effectiveness of chemo-mechanical caries removal using Papacarie-Duo and Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) in reducing dental pain among pregnant women. Materials and methods A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted, in 2019, and included 162 pregnant women visiting family health centers in Alexandria, Egypt, with dental pain due to dental caries not extending to pulp. Patients were randomly assigned to Papacarie-Duo group (n = 82) and ART group (n = 80) after stratification by number of treated surfaces. The outcome variables were reduction in pain assessed using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), satisfaction with treatment, and time taken for dental caries removal. T test/ Mann Whitney U test were used to compare groups and Freidman test was used to compare change across time. Results Pain reduction was significantly greater in the Papacarie-Duo than the ART group (81.55% and 69.43%, P = 0.001). Patients in the Papacarie-Duo group were significantly more satisfied with treatment than those in the ART, immediately after treatment (mean = 9.60 and 8.00, P =  < 0.01) and after 6 months (mean = 9.63 and 8.16, P =  < 0.01). Significantly less excavation time was recorded in the Papacarie-Duo group than in the ART group (mean = 10.38 and 11.56 min, P =  < 0.01). Conclusion Chemo-mechanical caries removal using Papacarie-Duo is more effective in reducing dental pain, in pregnant women, and is associated with more satisfaction and less excavation time than ART. Trial registration: ID NCT04573608 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/); 5/10/2020, retrospective registration.

Background Women tend to delay dental treatment due to misconceptions regarding the safety of dental procedures during pregnancy which may negatively affect their quality of life. Minimally invasive restorative techniques offer alternatives for caries treatment and can improve their oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) during this stage. Methods A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted in 2019 and included 162 pregnant women visiting public family health centers in Alexandria, Egypt, with mild to moderate dental pain due to caries. Participants were randomly assigned into Papacarie-Duo group (n = 82) and ART group (n = 80). The outcome variable was percent change in OHRQoL (oral health impact profile, OHIP-14) after 6 months. T test/Mann Whitney U test were used to compare groups and a multivariable linear regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the factors affecting the outcome variable. Results A significant reduction (P < 0.002) was noted in OHIP-14 between baseline and 6 months indicating improvement in OHRQoL in the Papacarie-Duo and ART groups (16.26% and 18.91%, P = 0.120 in bivariate analysis). Multiple linear regression revealed significantly greater reduction in OHIP-14 scores in the Papacarie-Duo than the ART group (regression coefficient = 4.03, 95% confidence interval: 0.652, 7.409, P = 0.020). Conclusion Minimally invasive restorative techniques, such as ART and chemo-mechanical caries removal using Papacarie- Duo can improve the OHRQoL of pregnant women suffering from mild to moderate pain due to dental caries. Significantly more improvement was noted in the Papacarie-Duo group after adjusting all other variables. Trial registration ID NCT04619264 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/); November 6 2020, retrospective registration. (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04619264?term=NCT04619264&draw=2&rank=1)

This study assessed the eficacy of Second Life (SL) in delivering lectures and demonstrating clinical procedures. Sixteen students in a dental school in Alexandria, Egypt, volunteered to participate in SL to learn about topical luoride through lectures and YouTube videos demonstrating the application of luoride gel. This was followed by face to face (F2F) sessions about pits and issures sealant including lectures and F2F demonstration. Knowledge improvement was assessed by pre-and posttests; practical skills were assessed by a checklist; and percent scores were calculated. The relation between these scores and some background variables was assessed. Students' satisfaction with and perceptions of SL were also assessed. Knowledge improved signiicantly after both SL and F2F experiences (p<0.0001 for both). There were no signiicant differences between SL and F2F in knowledge improvement or skills percent scores (p=0.16 and 0.26, respectively). Knowledge improvement was signiicantly related to previous experience with SL and previous year grade (p=0.02 and 0.007, respectively) but not to gender. Practical skills scores were not related to any of these three variables. Satisfaction with SL experience was high and not affected by any of the three variables, and the experience was perceived positively. This study suggests that SL can complement traditional F2F teaching, especially for underachieving students and in higher education institutions with problems of increasing numbers of students and limited space.Dr. El Tantawi is Associate Professor,

INTRODUCTION: Dentists are exposed to various hazards due to their occupation. Identifying the most prevalent ones is required to develop preventive measures and coping strategies in order to reduce the effect of such hazards in the future. OBJECTIVES: to assess the prevalence of the different occupational hazards among the Ministry Of Health dentists, in Alexandria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A sample of 900 dentists working in the different Ministry of Health facilities was randomly selected from the eight health districts of Alexandria governorate. A final sample of 750 dentists participated in the study with response rate of 83.33%. They were asked to complete a structured questionnaire, specially designed for the study, in order to assess their exposure to the different occupational hazards. RESULTS: Most of participants suffered from stress (85.9%), followed by musculoskeletal disorders (85.6%) and 63.9% experienced a type of percutaneous injury. Furthermore 51.3% were exposed to radiation hazards, 44.4% and 42.66% were exposed to eye injuries and chemical hazards, respectively. The least prevalent hazard was hearing impairment where it was reported by only 8.8% of the study participants CONCLUSIONS: Rheumatoid arthritis is an important risk factor for alveolar bone loss. The treatment of the RA induced rats with fish oil not only prevented the alveolar bone resorption and stimulated new bone formation, but also reduced relatively the level of rheumatoid factor in the blood.

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