The purpose of this assessment was to examine the variation among faculty members of Kulliyyah of Dentistry in supervising the clinical work of students. Introduction:Consistency in the evaluation of clinical decision-making is necessary for reliable assessment of student performance and effectiveness of clinical teaching. However little has been done to examine variation in dental clinical supervision. As a professional dental practitioner and lecturer, I feel this exercise is crucial as to give the best and ‘adil(justice) to students when doing assessment of work. Materials & Methods :Twenty clinical lecturers from Kulliyyah of Dentistry were given a set of criteria of rubric, and undergone twelve stations of clinical models focusing on several procedures in dentistry clinical works. The rubric and clinical models were prepared in six different groups of specialty: Periodontic, Conservative, General Dental Practitioner, Oral Surgery, Endodontic and Prosthodontic Dentistry. Lecturers go for baseline calibration and received training by 6 content experts immediately. Re-calibration was done after training. The time given for each station is 5 minutes. The rubrics consist of 57 points. The examination used dental mirror, dental probe, dental models, x-rays, copies of students’ case note and manikin. Kappa statistics were used to determine inter-examiner reliability at baseline and re-calibration. Results : For inter-examiner statistic, the baseline calibration on 20 clinical lecturers indicated an inter-rater kappa ranging from 0.05-0.5.Re-calibration on the same 20 packages after training indicated an inter-rater kappa of 0.11-0.42. Activity kappa was in the slight to moderate agreement. Performance of majority of examiners improved with time. Conclusion:The calibration of clinical lecturers should be performed regularly as it is crucial to maintain the uniformity of the examiners reliability. Furthermore the training needs to be conducted in an effective environment to improve performance. It is hoped that continuous training nurturing the “righteous individuals” which is one of the goals in Shariah principle.
Dental caries has remained a major oral health problem worldwide. Streptococcus mutans is considered as a vital cariogenic agent in the oral cavity. It can synthesise soluble and insoluble glucans from sucrose by glucosyltransferases enzymes and develops stable biofilm on the tooth surface. In the previous study, the fatty acids profile of activated virgin coconut oil (AVCO) have been described, and it includes the excellent antimicrobial activity of the oil. The current study aims to evaluate the antibiofilm effect of AVCO against the Streptococcus mutans ATCC 2157 biofilm in vitro. Materials and method: The minimum biofilm inhibition concentration (MBIC) and the minimum biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC) for antibiofilm activity were determined by serial dilution method, and biofilm thickness on S. mutans was quantified by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Results: At the concentra-tion of 15.63 mg/ml of AVCO, it successfully inhibits the development of S. mutans ATCC 21575 biofilm and AVCO (62.52 mg/ml) eradicate biofilm that was formed by the bacteria. The z-stack images obtained from CLSM allows the construction of 3-D biofilm structure and a significant difference in the thickness of S. mutans ATCC 21575 biofilm pre and post-treatment with AVCO were observed. Conclusion: AVCO showed good potential as anticaries where it possesses the ability to inhibits and eradicate S. mutans ATCC 21575 biofilm. A future study to evaluates the interaction of individuals fatty acids present in AVCO against proteins that relate to biofilm formation of S. mutans can be performed utilising the molecular docking tools.
Oral health care during pregnancy is greatly important as it is crucial to the health
and well-being to both pregnant mother and baby. Studies showed that mothers with oral health
problem have greater risk of prematurity and low birth weight babies. This study aimed to measure
the associated factors of oral health problem among pregnant mothers. (Copied from article).
Introduction: This cross-sectional study aimed to determine association of age and gender with dental treatment need among first-visit patients at Dental Outpatient Clinic, IIUM Kuantan in 2016.
Materials and Methods: Ethical approval (IREC 762) was obtained from IIUM Human Ethics Committee. List of first-visit patients who attended clinic from 1st January to 31st December 2016 was retrieved to assess patient's age and gender. Dental treatment need was determined according to the normative need which was professionally defined by dental-officer-in-charge. All first-visit patients were included, except those attended Orthodontic department or with old Malaysian identification card or foreign passport. Included patients were classified into six age groups (≤14, 15-19, 20-34, 35-44, 45-64 and ≥ 65). Pearson's chi square test was used for statistical analysis using SPSS Version 20 software.
Results: From a total number of 2,713 patients (age range of 2 to 87), 1,210 (44.6%) were males and 1,503 (55.4%) were females. Age (p<0.001) and gender (p<0.001) were significantly associated with dental treatment need. Paediatric patients (≤14) majorly received paedodontic care (97.5%). Young-age patients (15-19, 20-34 and 35-44) mostly required conservative care (39.5%, 31.2% & 30.6%, respectively) while elder-age patients (45-64 and ≥ 65) have major need for prosthodontics (30.0% & 40.2%, respectively). Females outnumbered males in all age groups, except for the age group of ≥ 65 whereby the situation was the opposite. Females also outnumbered males in all types of treatment need, except for periodontics which was predominated by males.
Conclusion(s): Age and gender have significant associations with treatment need for dental care.
KEYWORDS: treatment need, dental, association, age, gender
As time progressed, our diet changed to include the types of foods that will promote
decay and so dental caries became a widespread and serious concern. Dental caries had been
reported adding to the significantly high number of oral health problem worldwide, causing a
burden to health care system. Despite the existing of prevention courses, the numbers did not
appear to decrease. Originated from natural resources, virgin coconut oil (VCO) has been proposed
as an alternative treatment as it has been reported to demonstrate antimicrobial activity on various
bacteria. Hence, the present study aimed to investigate whether VCO has antimicrobial effects on
certain, selected cariogenic bacteria. (Copied from particle).
Dental decays happened due to demineralization of dental minerals because of oral
acidic environment. The minerals that usually dissolved out from the enamel are calcium (Ca) and
phosphorus (P). To ensure more Ca and P absorbed via remineralization, high Ca and P content in
daily diet supply are required. In Malaysia, virgin coconut oil (VCO), coconut milk (CM) and coconut
water (CW) are a few of many major diet component of daily diet. The aim for this study is to
evaluate the Ca and P content of VCO, CM and CW. (Copied from article).