The term LASER is an acronym for ‘Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation’. As its first application in dentistry by Miaman, in 1960, the laser has seen various hard and soft tissue applications. In the last two decades, there has been an explosion of research studies in laser application. In hard tissue application, the laser is used for caries prevention, bleaching, restorative removal and curing, cavity preparation, dentinal hypersensitivity, growth modulation and for diagnostic purposes, whereas soft tissue application includes wound healing, removal of hyperplastic tissue to uncovering of impacted or partially erupted tooth, photodynamic therapy for malignancies, photostimulation of herpetic lesion. Use of the laser proved to be an effective tool to increase efficiency, specificity, ease, and cost and comfort of the dental treatment.

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Smaller nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal airways were seen in connection with a large craniocervical and a large mandibular inclination. We therefore suggest that the vertical skeletal pattern may be one of the factors that contribute to nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal obstruction.

Dengue fever is mosquito borne disease caused by dengue virus (DENV) of Flaviviridae family. The clinical manifestations range from fever to severe hemorrhage, shock and death. Here, we report a case of 20-year-old male patient undergoing orthodontic treatment presenting with acute gingival bleeding with a history of fever, weakness, backache, retro orbital pain and ecchymosis over his right arm. The hematological investigations revealed anemia, thrombocytopenia and positive dengue non-structural protein-1 antigen and also positive immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin G antibodies for DENV. Patient was diagnosed as a case of dengue hemorrhagic fever and was immediately referred for appropriate management. This case report emphasizes the importance of taking correct and thorough medical history.

The Frankfort horizontal is a useful compromise for studying skulls but not for orienting the natural head position (NHP) in the living because it is normally distributed around a true extracranial horizontal. Nonetheless, orthodontists dealing with living subjects, rather than inert crania, have used this Frankfort horizontal faithfully in cephalometry. Because the cant or inclination of all intracranial reference lines is subjected to biologic variation, they are unsuitable for meaningful cephalometric analysis. Registration of head posture in its natural position has the advantage that an extracranial vertical or a horizontal perpendicular to that vertical can be used as reference line for cephalometric analysis. Purpose of this paper is to provide an updated review of various methods to reproduce and record the NHP.

Precise evaluation of maturational stage should be an integral part of both diagnosis and treatment. Different authors had reported different methods in an attempt to determine the best indicator of maturity. These include body height, body weight; sexual maturation; frontal sinus, chronological age, biological age or physiological age; hand-wrist maturity cervical vertebrae; dental eruption; dental calcification stages and biomarkers. Ever the method has its own advantages, disadvantages and over the other method. However, still researches are being done to explore best method to assess the maturity of an individual. This article reviews the methods of assessment of skeletal maturation.

Introduction:The objectives of the present study were to elucidate the effects of fluorosis in orthodontic bonding and to evaluate the efficiency of an adhesion promoter (Assure Universal Bonding Resin) in bonding to fluorosed teeth.Materials and Methods:Extracted premolars were divided into two groups on the basis of Thylstrup and Fejerskov Index. Ten samples from each group were etched and evaluated for etching patterns using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The remaining samples were subdivided into four groups of 20 each on the basis of adhesives used: IA, IIA - Transbond XT and IB, IIB - Transbond XT plus Assure Universal Bonding Resin. Shear bond strength (SBS) was measured after 24 h using the universal testing machine. Adhesive remnant index (ARI) scores were recorded using SEM. Statistical analysis was conducted using a two-way analysis of variance, and Tukey's post hoc test was performed on SBS and ARI scores.Results:Similar etching patterns were observed in both fluorosed and nonfluorosed teeth. No significant differences were found in the SBS values observed in both groups (8.66 ± 3.19 vs. 8.53 ± 3.44, P = 1.000). Increase in SBS was observed when Assure Universal Bonding Resin was used. Higher ARI scores were observed when adhesion promoter was used for bonding.Conclusions:Mild-moderately fluorosed teeth etch in a manner similar to the nonfluorosed teeth. Similar bond strengths were achieved in fluorosed and nonfluorosed teeth when conventional composite was used. Use of adhesion promoter increases the bond strengths in both groups of teeth.

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