There always exists a field with genetically altered cells with a high risk of developing premalignant and malignant lesions. It may often happen that an individual stem cell is genetically altered and can cause the formation of a clone or a patch which is likely to turn into a tumor. This explains the higher recurrence rates following tumor resections. It is essential to identify and to treat this field in order to have greater chances to prevent cancer and achieve a better outcome. This article reports concepts, theories and markers for the assessment of field cancerization.
Root canal disinfection is one of the most important factors governing success of root canal treatment, especially when regenerative strategies are used. This study evaluated the efficacy of 5 intracanal medicaments against mature biofilms of Enterococcus fecalis in vitro: Light activated curcumin, triple antibiotic paste (TAP), double antibiotic paste (DAP), chlorhexidine, calcium hydroxide. Untreated teeth with biofilms served as controls. Confocal microscopy was used to analyse the biofilm mass and percentage of live/dead bacteria within the root canal as well as dentinal tubules. Dentinal shavings obtained from the root canal walls (at 200 and 400 microns depth) were used to quantify the colony forming units/mL. The results showed that light activated curcumin and triple antibiotic paste brought about complete disruption of the biofilm structure (P < 0.05) while chlorhexidine and calcium hydroxide were not significantly different from the control (P > 0.05). Light activated curcumin brought about the highest percentage of dead cells at both depths, but this was not significantly different from triple antibiotic paste (P > 0.05). Curcumin, TAP and DAP brought about a significant reduction of CFU/mL at both depths compared to the control and other groups (P < 0.05). Light activated curcumin brought about a 7 log reduction of bacteria at both depths.
The ability to monitor the health and disease status of the patient through saliva is a highly desirable goal for the health professionals. Considering the microconcentration of salivary constituents, saliva is explored to be diagnostic tool as it also meets the demands for an inexpensive, noninvasive and easy to use screening method. The incorporation of salivary diagnostics into clinical practice is gaining reality and will be of diagnostic value in the prospective future. The investigative use of saliva is not being applied only in dental health but also in various other systemic disorders. The advent of molecular techniques is gaining attention and this has triggered its application as a specific and sensitive biomarker in proteomics, genomics, and transcriptomics. This review discusses the basics of salivary diagnostics, expectoration techniques, and its application in various local and systemic disorders.
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