MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty chronic periodontitis patients completed this study and received periodontal treatment comprising scaling and root planing plus ultrasonic debridement. Clinical data were recorded at baseline, 6 weeks (R1) after treatment completion (full-mouth or quadrant-scaling and root planing) and 25 weeks after baseline (R2). Serum samples were taken at each time point and cytokines concentrations determined by ELISA.
RESULTS: Following treatment, statistically significant reductions were noted in clinical parameters. However, IL-17A and IL-17E concentrations were significantly greater than baseline values before- and after-adjusting for smoking. The IL-17A:IL-17E ratio was lower at R1 and R2. Serum IL-6 and TNF levels were significantly lower at R1 only. Also exclusively at R1, serum IL-17A and IL-17E correlated positively with clinical parameters, while the IL-17A:IL-17E ratio correlated negatively with probing pocket depth and clinical attachment.
CONCLUSION: Increased serum IL-17E and a reduced IL-17A:IL-17E ratio may be indicative and/or a consequence of periodontal therapy. Therefore, the role of IL-17E in periodontal disease progression and the healing process is worthy of further investigation.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: IL-17E may be a valuable biomarker to monitor the healing process following periodontal treatment as increased IL-17E levels and a reduced IL-17A:IL-17E ratio could reflect clinical improvements post-therapy. Therefore, monitoring serum IL-17E might be useful to identify individuals who require additional periodontal treatment.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: In mutation screening of CRNN gene, gDNA from OSCC tissues were extracted, amplified, and followed by direct sequencing. OSCC samples were also subjected to fragment analysis on CRNN gene to investigate its microsatellite instability (MSI) and loss of heterozygosity (LOH). Immunohistochemistry was performed to validate CRNN downregulation in OSCC samples.
RESULTS: No pathogenic mutation was found in CRNN gene, while high frequency of allelic imbalances was found at 1q21.3 region. MSI was found more frequent (25.3 %) than LOH (9.3 %). Approximately 22.6 % of cases had high MSI which reflects higher probability of inactivation of DNA mismatch repair genes. MSI showed significant association with no betel quid chewing (p = 0.003) and tongue subsite (p = 0.026). LOH was associated with ethnicity (p = 0.008) and advanced staging (p = 0.039). The LOH at 1q21.3 was identified to be as an independent prognostic marker in OSCC (HRR = 7.15 (95 % CI, 1.41-36.25), p = 0.018). Downregulation of CRNN was found among MSI-positive OSCCs and was associated with poor prognosis (p = 0.044).
CONCLUSION: This study showed a significant correlation between LOH/MSI at 1q21.3 with clinical outcomes and that downregulation of CRNN gene could be considered as a prognostic marker of OSCC.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Insights of the downregulation mode of CRNN gene lays the basis of drug development on this gene as well as revealing its prognostic value.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflamed dental pulp-derived stem cells (iDPSCs) were treated with different concentrations of HPL and PRP (10% and 20%) followed by determination of viability using Alamar Blue assay. Expression of angiogenesis-, adhesion-, and inflammation-regulating genes was also analyzed using RT-qPCR array. Furthermore, expression of growth factors at protein level in the cell culture microenvironment was measured using multiplex assay.
RESULTS: Viability of iDPSCs was significantly (p
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study measured the effects within 4 weeks in relation to summated xerostomia inventory (SXI) and unstimulated whole saliva (UWS). Patients randomized into the interventional arm were prescribed an immunologically active saliva substitute (IASS), while patients in the control arm were prescribed a non-immunologically active mouthwash as placebo.
RESULTS: The study population consisted of 94 patients. There was a significant difference in SXI difference (p < 0.0001) and UWS difference (p < 0.0001) between control and interventional arms. No harmful side effects associated with the use of either mouthwash encountered throughout the study duration.
CONCLUSION: IASS mouthwash significantly reduces subjective xerostomia scores measured using SXI and improves objective measurement of salivary flow using UWS among nasopharyngeal cancer survivors with xerostomia.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: IASS is significantly more effective in improving subjective and objective xerostomia measurements compared to non-immunologically active mouthwash. Additionally, this treatment is very safe, with superior side effect profiles.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04491435.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This parallel, single-blinded, randomised controlled trial (RCT) consisted of 22 periodontitis patients who had molar with advanced furcation involvement (FI). All patients followed the same inclusion criteria and were treated following the same protocol, except for radiographic evaluation (CBCT vs. periapical). This study proposed and evaluated five parameters that represent the extent and severity of furcation defects in molars teeth, including CEJ-BD (clinical attachment loss), BL-H (depth), BL-V (height), RT (root trunk), and FW (width).
RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences between CBCT and intrasurgical linear measurements for any clinical parameter (p > 0.05). However, there were statistically significant differences in BL-V measurements (p
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Gingival tissue samples of healthy (n = 5), PD with RA (n = 5) and PD without RA (n = 5) were collected. Specimens were formalin fixed, paraffin embedded and sectioned at 4 μm. The tissue sections were analysed for the presence of citrullinated and carbamylated proteins by immunohistochemistry. Semi-quantitative analysis was performed to quantify and compare the protein abundance between groups.
RESULTS: The number of cells containing citrullinated and carbamylated proteins with higher intensity was markedly increased in gingival tissues from PD with or without RA in comparison with healthy controls.
CONCLUSION: Inflamed gingival tissue is a potential source of citrullinated and carbamylated proteins other than synovial tissues. The extent to which the local accumulation of these proteins contributes to the pathogenesis of RA needs further elucidation.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: If PD is a potential source of post-translationally modified proteins, untreated PD should not be taken lightly in the context of RA. Hence, addressing gingival inflammation should be viewed as an important preventive measure in the general population not only for the progression of periodontal disease but also reducing the risk of developing extra-oral comorbidities.
MATERIALS AND METHOD: Forty-five patients with dry socket were divided into two treatment groups. Group I dry socket patients (n = 30) received conventional treatment while group II patients (n = 15) were irradiated with LLLT at a setting of 200-mW, 6-J, continuous-wave mode using an R02 tipless handpiece (Fotona Er:YAG, Europe), on the buccal, lingual, and middle surfaces of the socket for 30 s from a delivery distance of 1 cm. Pain score and quantification of granulation tissue in the socket were recorded at 0, 4, and 7 days post-dry socket treatment.
RESULTS: Results showed that the LLLT-irradiated group II sockets showed a much lower VAS pain score of 1-2 as early as day 4, and a richer amount of granulation tissue compared to the conventional treated group I socket. The amount and rate of granulation tissue formation in the dry socket are inversely proportional to the pain score showing significant clinical effectiveness of LLLT on promoting the healing of the dry socket, with improvement in symptoms (P = .001). Conventionally treated dry sockets take at least 7 days to match the effective healing of an LLLT-irradiated dry socket.
CONCLUSION: LLLT irradiation influences biomodulation of dry socket healing by dampening inflammation, promoting vascularization, stimulating granulation, and controlling pain symptoms.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: LLLT may be an additional effective tool for managing dry sockets in general dental practice.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Oral biopsies (n = 44) were scanned using the swept source OCT (SSOCT) and grouped by pathology diagnosis to benign, dysplasia or carcinoma. Two trained and calibrated assessors scored on the five OCT variables: thickness of keratin layer (KL), epithelial layer (EL), homogeneity of lamina propria (LP), basement membrane integrity (BMI), and the degree of reflection of the epithelial layer (Ep Re). Chi-square tests and Fischer's exact method were used to compare the data.
RESULTS: The OCT images showed breached BM status in all the OSCC samples (100%). Epithelial reflection was noted to be hyper-reflective in all the OSCC and oral dysplasia samples (100%). An increase in KL in 66.67% of the OSCC and 100% of the oral dysplasia samples was found. EL was increased in all the OSCC samples (100%) and 85.72% of the oral dysplasias. Kappa values showed that there was very good agreement (over 0.7) when scoring individual parameters between the two assessors.
CONCLUSION: The study showed that the BM status was a key parameter in the detection of SCC and for differentiating SCC from oral dysplasia or benign disorders.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: OCT is a non-invasive and non-radioactive adjunct diagnostic tool that can provide immediate results on the structure of oral mucosa. The BM status measured ex vivo was a key parameter in the detection of SCC and for differentiating SCC from oral dysplasia or benign disorders.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study involves administration of 4NQO solution for 8 weeks alone (cancer induction) or with Dracaena cinnabari (DC) extract at 100, 500, and 1000 mg/kg. DC extract administration started 1 week before exposure until 1 week after the carcinogen exposure was stopped. All rats were sacrificed after 22 weeks, and histological analysis was performed to assess any incidence of pathological changes. Immunohistochemical expressions of selected tumor marker antibodies were analyzed using an image analyzer computer system, and the expression of selected genes involved in apoptosis and proliferative mechanism related to oral cancer were evaluated using RT2-PCR.
RESULTS: The incidence of OSCC decreased with the administration of DC extract at 100, 500, and 1000 mg/kg compared to the induced cancer group. The developed tumor was also observed to be smaller when compared to the induced cancer group. The DC 1000 mg/kg group inhibits the expression of Cyclin D1, Ki-67, Bcl-2, and p53 proteins. It was observed that DC 1000 mg/kg induced apoptosis by upregulation of Bax and Casp3 genes and downregulation of Tp53, Bcl-2, Cox-2, Cyclin D1, and EGFR genes when compared to the induced cancer group.
CONCLUSIONS: The data indicated that systemic administration of the DC resin methanol extract has anticarcinogenic potency on oral carcinogenesis.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Chemoprevention with DC resin methanol extract may significantly reduce morbidity and possibly mortality from OSCC.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sample size calculation was conducted and 320 radiographs of subjects with and without supernumerary teeth (ST) were obtained from the archives of a teaching hospital. The subjects in both groups were age and sex matched. All the subjects belong to southern Chinese ethnicity aged 2 to 14 years. The left-side dentition was scored, and dental age (DA) was estimated by obtaining scores from the southern Chinese dental reference dataset. Paired t test was used to calculate the difference between chronological age and dental age (CA-DA) for boys and girls with and without ST and further based on the number and position of ST.
RESULTS: The difference between chronological age and dental age (CA-DA) was 0.10 years for boys and 0.19 years for girls with ST whilst 0.01 and 0.05 years for boys and girls without ST (p > 0.05). The boys with bilateral ST showed significant delay in dental development of 0.23 years (p
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nineteen linear facial measurements were derived from 16 standardized surface landmarks obtained from 37 cleft patients (20 males, 17 females; mean age 23.84 years, standard deviation ± 6.02). They were taken manually with calipers and were compared with the digitally calculated distance on the 3D images captured using the VECTRA-M5 360° Imaging System with pre-marked landmarks. Another pair of 19 linear measurements were computed on the 3D images 2 weeks apart for intra- and inter-observer agreements. Statistical analyses used were paired t test, the Bland-Altman analysis, and the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) index.
RESULTS: Most of the linear measurements showed no statistically significant differences between the proposed method and direct anthropometry linear measurements. Nevertheless, bias of the 3D imaging system is present in the linear measurements of the nose width and the upper vermillion height. The measurements' mean biases were within 2 mm, but the 95% limit of agreement was more than 2 mm. Intra- and inter-observer measurements generally showed good reproducibility. Four inter-observer measurements, the upper and lower face heights, nose width, and pronasale to left alar base were clinically significant.
CONCLUSIONS: Measurements obtained from this 3D imaging system are valid and reproducible for evaluating CLP patients.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The system is suitable to be used in a clinical setting for cleft patients. However, training of the operator is strictly advisable.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Single- (Streptococcus mutans or Lactobacillus acidophilus), dual- (Streptococcus mutans/Lactobacillus Acidophilus), and multi-species (Streptococcus mutans, Actinomyces naeslundii, and Streptococcus sanguis) biofilms were grown on acid-etched dentine discs. Biofilms were incubated (120 min/37 °C) and allowed to grow for 3 days anaerobically. Discs (no treatment) served as control (group 1). Groups II, III, IV, and V were then treated with 2% chlorhexidine, and 2%, 5%, and 10% QAS (20 s). Discs were returned to well plates with 300 μL of bacterial suspension and placed in anaerobic incubator at 37 °C and biofilms redeveloped for 4 days. Confocal microscopy, Raman, CFU, and MTT assay were performed.
RESULTS: Raman peaks show shifts at 1450 cm-1, 1453 cm-1, 1457 cm-1, 1460 cm-1, and 1462 cm-1 for control, 2% CHX, 2%, 5%, and 10% QAS groups in multi-species biofilms. There was reduction of 484 cm-1 band in 10% QAS group. CLSM revealed densely clustered green colonies in control group and red confluent QAS-treated biofilms with significantly lower log CFU for single/dual species. Metabolic activities of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus acidophilus decreased with increasing QAS exposure time.
CONCLUSION: Quaternary ammonium silanes possess antimicrobial activities and inhibit growth of cariogenic biofilms.
CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Available data demonstrated use of QAS as potential antibacterial cavity disinfectant in adhesive dentistry. Experimental QAS can effectively eliminate caries-forming bacteria, when used inside a prepared cavity, and can definitely overcome problems associated with present available cavity disinfectants.