Aim The aim of this study is to assess the awareness of biomedical waste management in dental students of various dental colleges of Nepal. Methodology A structured pretested questionnaire was used among 434 (323 males and 111 females) undergraduate dental students of five different dental colleges of Nepal. First part of the questionnaire was used to describe demographic profile of the participants. Second part of the questionnaire assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding biomedical waste management. Chi-square test was applied to find out the association between different responses obtained from different colleges. Result Majority (91.82%) of participants had a positive attitude towards safe management of biomedical waste. Regarding the knowledge of BMW management policies, majority of the students (83.1% to 98.9%) had positive attitude towards the safe management of biomedical waste, whereas more than 50% of the students were unaware of the guidelines laid down by Government of Nepal. Regarding biomedical waste disposal technique in the hospital, only 29.9% to 79.8% are aware; this shows that there is lack of strict protocol in the BMW management. Association between different responses and colleges for “improper waste management causes various health hazards” ranged from 93.3% to 98.9%. Conclusion There exists a lacuna in the knowledge and practice of biomedical waste management among the undergraduate dental students in Nepal. Since the students had positive attitude towards addressing this concern, workshops and trainings related to proper biomedical waste management would be a step forward towards attaining a healthy environment for the future.

Toothbrushes play an essential role in personal oral hygiene by effective plaque removal.However, they get heavily contaminated by bacteria, viruses, yeasts, and fungi which may originate from the oral cavity after every use as well as from the environment where they are stored. This systematic review was conducted to identify various decontamination interventions attempted scientifically and it summarizes the efficacy of each. Meta-analysis illustrated that the use of Ultra-violet rays and Microwave had a significant effect on reduction of the microbial count of a used toothbrush with a mean difference of -2.61 and CI (-4.66,-0.76) with I2=98%. When compared with non-active treatment group, the natural agents (garlic, green tree and tea-tree oil) proved to sterilize the toothbrushes effectively with mean difference of -483.34, CI (-914.79, -51.88) and I2=100%.In contrast, chlorhexidine showed the insignificant result with a mean difference of -347.55 and CI (-951.90, 256.80) with I2=100%. The evidence from this review suggests that decontaminating toothbrush reduces bacterial load. Toothbrushes exposed to radiation and natural agents proved to sanitize them effectively but chlorhexidine rendered insignificant results.Keywords: Chemical agent; disinfection; radiation; microbial load; natural agent; toothbrush.

Introduction: Although adults are affected by pyodermas, they are commonly seen in school going children. Children usually acquire infections through contacts either from other children or with fomites. Low socioeconomic status, poor personal hygiene, undernutrition and immunosuppresion interplay with each other and predispose children to pyodermas.Objectives: This study was conducted to find out the socioeconomic status and nutritional profile of children with pyoderma and their association with recurrence of disease. Materials and Methods:This was a hospital based cross-sectional study carried out for one year. Newly diagnosed cases of pyoderma in children less than 14 years were enrolled for the study. Kuppuswamy scale was used to evaluate the socio-economic status of the families. Weight was taken as the indicator of nutrition and compared with the norm set up by the Indian Association of Pediatrics (IAP). Data were fed into STATA v. 11.1 and we found out the risk between the recurrence of disease and the socioeconomic and nutritional status of the children by calculating prevalence risk ratios.Results: Out of 107 children with pyoderma included in this study, there were 64 (59.8%) males and 43 (40.2%) females and the male to female ratio was 1.48:1. Children who belonged to lower socioeconomic strata (lower, upper-lower and lower-middle socio-economic groups) constituted almost 74% of the study population. According to the IAP standard, the nutritional status of a significant proportion (23.4%) of children with pyoderma was below the norm. There were significant risks of having recurrence of disease in children with lower socioeconomic status (p=0.014) and lower nutritional status (p=0.028). Conclusion:This study highlights the presence of poor socioeconomic and nutritional status in children with pyodermas. Persistence of these factors may also lead to recurrence of the disease. This study opens avenues to conduct further large studies to investigate and address these issues.

Background Tobacco products are considered significant, but preventable factors related to initiation and progression of periodontal diseases. We assessed the prevalence of periodontitis and evaluated its association with tobacco use and other factors amongst the adult population of Sunsari district in eastern Nepal. Methods A community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in rural municipalities in the province one of eastern Nepal. A total of 440 adults were interviewed with a set of a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. Data on social demographics, adverse oral habits followed by periodontal clinical examination were recorded. Prevalence of periodontitis was assessed by a case definition provided by CDC-AAP. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was done to measure the association between tobacco use and other factors with periodontitis. Results The overall prevalence of periodontitis was found to be 71.6%. Majority (85.4%) of tobacco users had periodontitis and they were significantly associated with the disease and its severity. The study identified age groups, 45–65 years (AOR = 7.58, 95% CI 3.93–14.61), plaque accumulation (AOR = 1.01, 95% CI 1.00–1.02), smoking (AOR = 3.14, 95% CI 1.36–7.27), khaini users (smokeless tobacco, AOR = 2.27, 95% CI 1.12–4.61) and teeth loss (AOR = 2.02, 95% CI 1.21–3.38) as the significant factors associated with periodontitis. Conclusion The prevalence of periodontitis is high in the surveyed rural adult population. Cigarette smoking along with the use of smokeless tobacco in the form of khaini were identified as significant factors associated with periodontitis.

Melanotrichoblastoma is a variant of pigmented trichoblastoma. It shows heavily pigmented epithelial lobules and differentiaion toward the hair bulb. Abundant dendritic melanocytes are found within the tumor masses. These melanocytes show positivity for S100 protein, HMG45/gp 100 and tyrosinase. The case is being reported because of its rarity.A twenty eight year lady presented to Dermatology OPD with a single nodular lesion on the right temporal region since last five years. Punch biopsy was done. Haematoxylin and eosin stained slides were studied and immunohistochemistry analysis was also done.Variably sized epithelial lobules of basaloid cells spanning the entire dermis was noted on H and E stained slides. Some lobules showed pale looking cells- a reminiscent of follicular germinative cells. Intralesional melanocytes with pigmentation were observed. Immunohistochemistry results showed the melanocytes positive for HMB-45 and S100 and the stroma positive for CD 34. Hence, a definitive diagnosis of Melanotrichoblastoma was made.This case is being presented to emphasize the difficulty posed by adnexal tumors in clinical diagnosis due to their clinical similarity with malignant lesion and rarity.Birat Journal of Health Sciences Vol.2/No.1/Issue 2/ Jan - April 2017

Background: COVID-19 poses a major public health calamity. Its wider impact on health service utilization is yet to be studied. The study aims to assess dental problems faced by patients during the COVID-19 outbreak and the possible reasons in failing to seek dental careMethods: A cross-sectional quantitative-qualitative design was employed to assess the outcomes among patients reporting to a tertiary care centre. Participants were selected by convenient sampling and interviewed using structured questionnaire. Responses were transcribed, translated and coded before analyzing for the themes by thematic analysis. Quantitative component of the study was analyzed by descriptive and inferential methods.Result: Mean age of the participants was 43.7 years (SD: 16.1). Most of them (63%) reported not having had an oral examination in the past year while 62% reported being unable to seek dental treatment during the pandemic. Pain, sequelae of pain and other self-perceived urgent causes were identified as the major problems faced by the participant. Similarly, the reasons for not being able to seek dental treatment were grouped as fear of transmission, lack of transportation and lockdown, unavailability of health services, misinformation, lack of communication from hospital regarding its services, and deferred treatment by the hospitals.Conclusion: Pain remains the ultimate trigger for care seeking behaviour. Dental service utilization was reported to be influenced by a number of factors during COVID-19. The pandemic seemed to add up to the already pre-existing dilemma in seeking dental care. A conceptual framework has been suggested to aid further researches in the future for looking into the impacts from such pandemics.

The Nepali version of the GOHAI exhibited acceptable reliability and validity when used for older people residing in old age homes. The GOHAI-N showed good consistency and homogeneity among the items.

Background