Background: Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS) is a rare disease caused by deletion in the distal moiety of the short arm of chromosome 4. The objectives of this study were to report the most representative oral findings of WHS, relate them with other clinical characteristics of the disease, and establish possible phenotype-genotype correlation. Methods: The study was conducted at 6 reference centers distributed throughout Spain during 2018–2019. The study group consisted of 31 patients with WHS who underwent a standardized oral examination. Due to behavioral reasons, imaging studies were performed on only 11 of the children 6 years of age or older. All participants had previously undergone a specific medical examination for WHS, during which anatomical, functional, epilepsy-related, and genetic variables were recorded. Results: The most prevalent oral manifestations were delayed tooth eruption (74.1%), bruxism (64.5%), dental agenesis (63.6%), micrognathia (60.0%), oligodontia (45.5%), and downturned corners of the mouth (32.3%). We detected strong correlation between psychomotor delay and oligodontia (p = 0.008; Cramér’s V coefficient, 0.75). The size of the deletion was correlated in a statistically significant manner with the presence of oligodontia (p = 0.009; point-biserial correlation coefficient, 0.75). Conclusion: Certain oral manifestations prevalent in WHS can form part of the syndrome’s phenotypic variability. A number of the characteristics of WHS, such as psychomotor delay and epilepsy, are correlated with oral findings such as oligodontia and bruxism. Although most genotype-phenotype correlations are currently unknown, most of them seem to be associated with larger deletions, suggesting that some oral-facial candidate genes might be outside the critical WHS region, indicating that WHS is a contiguous gene syndrome.

Objective: To describe the subgingival microbiome of individuals with Down syndrome (DS). Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional observational study that obtained bacterial DNA samples from 50 patients with DS, 25 with periodontitis (PDS) and 25 with a healthy periodontal condition (HDS). The samples were analyzed by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene V3–V4 hypervariable region using the MiSeq System. Taxonomic affiliations were assigned using the naïve Bayesian classifier integrated in QIIME2 plugins. We evaluated the difference in bacteria abundance between the sample groups using Wilcoxon and Kruskal–Wallis tests. We evaluated the alpha diversity of the identified species using the Observed, Chao1metric, ACE and Shannon indices and evaluated beta diversity with principal coordinate analysis (registration code: 2018/510). Results: Twenty-one genera and 39 bacterial species showed a significantly different abundance between the study groups. Among the genera, Porphyromonas, Treponema, Tannerella and Aggregatibacter were more abundant in the PDS group than in the HDS group, as were the less commonly studied Filifactor, Fretibacterium and Desulfobulbus genera. Among the species, Porphyromonas spp. and Tannerella spp. were the most abundant in the PDS group; the most abundant species in the HDS group were Pseudomonas spp., Granulicatella spp. and Gemella spp. Conclusion: Well-recognized periodontal pathogens and newly proposed pathogenic taxa were associated with periodontitis in patients with DS.

Continuing education (CE) can have a large impact on dentists' oral cancer attitudes, knowledge, and behavior. Reading scientiic journals is a key component of CE. The objective of this study was to assess preventive and clinical attitudes of the participants in an educational intervention on oral cancer in Spain based on scientiic journals. Members of the Spanish Board of Dentists and Stomatologists participated in an online, cross-sectional study, using an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire. There were 791 general dental practitioners (GDPs) invited to participate in the study. The large majority reported that they deliver tobacco-cessation counseling (93.6 percent) as well as advice on alcohol consumption (66.6 percent), but advice on vegetable intake was less frequently provided (42.4 percent). Alcohol intake advice, routine mucosa exploration, and biopsy performance on lesions suspicious of malignancy are preventive attitudes related to training. Compared with those who did not beneit from CE courses or did so only once, the GDPs who took four or more CE courses showed a doubling in the odds of giving alcohol advice to their patients and a tenfold increased odds of performing mucosa check on a routine basis; they were 3.5 times as likely to take biopsies of suspicious lesions. A longer experience as a GDP did not increase the probability of adopting preventive attitudes. In addition to presenting the results of this study, the article also discusses the general usefulness of other preventive measures in oral cancer.Dr. Seoane is Senior Lecturer and Head,

Objectives: Our aim was to provide an up-to-date and review the incidence and mortality of oral and pharyngeal cancer in Europe. Methods: Data were retrieved from both national and regional population-based cancer registries. The online browser used in the present study was the European Network of Cancer Registries (EUREG. Version 1.0), which provided data for 22 countries of Northern and Eastern Europe and for 20 countries of Western and Southern Europe on the incidence of and mortality for oral and pharyngeal cancer. For countries not included in EUREG, data were retrieved from the European Cancer Estimates (EUCAN), the Global Cancer Estimates (GLOBOCAN) and Cancer Incidence in Five Continents. Oral cancer sub-sites were classified according to International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Edition categories. Results: Hungary recorded highest rates among European countries for both morbidity and mortality. Historically, France has had high rates particularly in areas in the north of France, where oral cancer was the most common in men. A decline in the incidence has been noted in the past one and half decades. However, France still has the highest incidence rates of orophayngeal cancer, one of the highest in the world. Denmark records high rates of oral cancer in women and lip cancer incidence is high in Spain. Conclusions: In Europe, regional differences in oral and pharyngeal cancer in terms of incidence and mortality are evident not only between north and south and between east and west but also within single regions (e.g. between the Scandinavian countries and the former Soviet republics). These findings reflect differences in lifestyle and in exposure to risk factors such as smoking (e.g. high incidence in Danish women), alcohol (e.g. in Lithuanian men) or both (e.g. Belgium and Portugal). Other traditional factors, such as actinic radiation, are responsible for a considerable number of cases of lip cancer (e.g. Spain), and oncogenic potential of human papillomavirus explains the rising trend in oropharyngeal cancer in some countries (e.g. Denmark and Scotland).

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