Oral health

The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has significantly affected the dental care sector. Dental professionals are at high risk of being infected, and therefore transmitting SARS-CoV-2, due to the nature of their profession, with close proximity to the patient’s oropharyngeal and nasal regions and the use of aerosol-generating procedures. The aim of this article is to provide an update on different issues regarding SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 that may be relevant for dentists. Members of the French National College of Oral Biology Lecturers (“Collège National des EnseignantS en Biologie Orale”; CNESBO-COVID19 Task Force) answered seventy-two questions related to various topics, including epidemiology, virology, immunology, diagnosis and testing, SARS-CoV-2 transmission and oral cavity, COVID-19 clinical presentation, current treatment options, vaccine strategies, as well as infection prevention and con...

This study investigated changes in oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in partially edentulous patients treated with removable dental prostheses (RDPs), fixed dental prostheses (FDPs), fixed-removable (combined) restorations (COMBs), and implant-supported fixed prostheses (ISFPs). A total of 200 patients (30 to 50 years old) were enrolled: 45 received RDPs, 32 received FDPs, 66 received COMBs, and 57 received ISFPs. OHRQoL was measured using the shortened version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) before treatment and 6 weeks and 6 months after treatment. Treatment groups were sex-neutral; however, significant differences were found relative to age and Kennedy classification. A general linear model was used to explore the interaction of age and Kennedy classification with treatment modality. Pretreatment analysis revealed that the psychologic discomfort domain showed the greatest negative impact on OHRQoL, while functional limitation had the smallest effect. Within...

Health is currently recognized as lying in the individual process rooted in genes, personal habits, the social model and the understanding of the ideological standpoint from which it is viewed. The aim of this study was to validate the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) for use in Latin American communities, in order to demonstrate its efficacy for determining the impact of dental condition on children under 5 years of age and their families. The ECOHIS explores two domains: impact on children (9 questions) and on families (4 questions). Validation in Spanish was done in four stages. Stage I included translation and back-translation of the questionnaire (English-Spanish-English). Stage II was a pilot test on families in Venezuela to test stability (test-retest) and make semantic adjustments. Stage III included validation of the questionnaire applied to a Venezuelan sample (n = 50) and two Argentine samples (A and B, made up of families with and without social risk, re...

This study cotnpares differences in attitude, of oral health care of nursing personnel working with dependent elderly and se\ crely disabled patients. A questionnaire was administered to 398 person-nel covering (1) personal oral health care habits. (2) experiences and ...

Oral health literacy is emerging as a new public health challenge and poor oral health literacy is increasingly seen as an important predictor of poor oral health outcomes. Within Indigenous populations, there may be benefits to research in using a culturally acceptable, internally consistent and valid instrument to assess oral health literacy. We translated a general health literacy measure, the Health Literacy Management (HeLM) scale to make a dentally relevant scale; Health Literacy in Dentistry (HeLD). This study describes the development and assessment of the reliability and validity of the HeLD in an Indigenous Australian population. The 29 item HeLD scale assesses the components of oral health literacy. The reliability and validity of the seven HeLD subscales were evaluated in a convenience sample of 209 Indigenous Australians with mean age 35 years (range 17-81) and of which 139 were female. The scale was supported by exploratory factor analysis and established seven distinc...

Purpose: The objective of the present study was to evaluate whether sensitivity to bitter taste and perception of sweet taste have an influence on dental caries in urban and rural areas. Materials and methods: The caries experience in 181 children, aged 12 years, from rural and urban areas of southern Brazil, was assessed according to World Health Organization guidelines. Sensitivity to the bitterness of phenylthiocarbamide was determined using the Harris–Kalmus procedure, and the sweet taste thresholds of sucrose were measured by Nilsson and Holm's method. Results: The caries index (DMFT > 0) was 3.73 (SD = 2.26) in the rural area and 3.51 (SD = 2.14) in the urban area. The sensitivity to bitter taste and sweet taste perception showed significant association with the gender of schoolchildren (P = 0.04). Girls were predominant in the high sweet perception taster group (62.3%) and the bitter taster group (59.4%). No significant difference in sweet perception status could be observed between the groups of low and high caries severity. The genetic ability to taste bitterness significantly influenced the levels of caries only in children from the urban area (P = 0.005). Bitter non-tasters presented higher severity of caries. A positive correlation was observed between sensitivity to bitter taste and sweet taste perception among children in the rural (r = 0.42, P = 0.002) and urban areas (r = 0.36, P = 0.001). Conclusions: These findings suggest that the bitter non-tasters are more susceptible to dental caries than the tasters in the urban area.

To document the oral health status, to study oral health determinants and oral health-related quality of life among 12-year-olds from the Barents Euro-Arctic Region. The study was conducted in Severodvinsk (North-West Russia) and Tromsø (Northern Norway). Two schools representing each region were selected and all 12-year-old pupils having obtained their parents' written consent were included (Severodvinsk n=48, Tromsø n=36). Background factors were collected by questionnaires. Oral health conditions, i.e. caries (DMFT/S), oral hygiene (OHI-S) and satisfaction with their own dental appearance were recorded under field conditions and possible associations between background factors and the children's oral health status were studied. Oral health was better among Norwegian than Russian participants. The most important factors explaining variation in oral health were country of origin and treatment (filling/no filling) received at the last dental visit. Among parental factors, ed...

Social and emotional well-being is an important component of overall health. In the Indigenous Australian context, risk indicators of poor social and emotional well-being include social determinants such as poor education, employment, income and housing as well as substance use, racial discrimination and cultural knowledge. This study sought to investigate associations between oral health-related factors and social and emotional well-being in a birth cohort of young Aboriginal adults residing in the northern region of Australia's Northern Territory. Data were collected on five validated domains of social and emotional well-being: anxiety, resilience, depression, suicide and overall mental health. Independent variables included socio-demographics, dental health behaviour, dental disease experience, oral health-related quality of life, substance use, racial discrimination and cultural knowledge. After adjusting for other covariates, poor oral health-related items were associated w...

In order to determine the effects ofa new approach to preventive oral health treatment for forensic psychiatric patients, 3 studies were carried out using a Dutch version of the Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14-NL), among Dutch forensic psychiatric patients. In the first study, it was determined that the psychometric characteristics of the OHIP-14-NL were good and that attention to oral healthcare contributed positively to quality of life. The second study, which made use of an improved version of the OHIP-14-NL indicated that patients with a high level of anxiety for dental treatment and poor oral health reported a lesser quality of life. The third study showed that an effectively carried out programme of personal oral care can play an important role in the reduction of halitosis and in the improvement of quality of life. Moreover, it appeared that the retrospective version of the OHIP-14-NL was a useful method for determining the correlation between quality of life and oral ...

Vários estudos epidemiológicos avaliaram a associação entre saúde bucal e desenvolvimento social. Entretanto, o uso de diferentes variáveis mensurando condição sócio-econômica dificulta a análise comparativa de seus achados. O presente estudo descreveu as formas mais usadas por estudos recentes de saúde bucal para a classificação de segmentos de população segundo categorias de estratificação social. Foram selecionados 86 artigos publicados em periódicos indexados no MEDLINE, entre 1990 e 2001. Embora esses estudos tenham empregado diferentes estratégias para estratificar a população, ocupação, escolaridade e renda, foram as variáveis mais freqüentemente utilizadas. Diferenciais étnicos, características dos domicílios e das escolas e acesso a bens materiais também foram usadas com freqüência. Foi também observada grande participação de estudos brasileiros sobre diferenciais sócio-econômicos na distribuição de cáries e doença periodontal. O conhecimento das estratégias para a estratif...

As we age, the dynamic balance between gains and losses has been acknowledged by current portrayals of health. Oral health research has yet to fully incorporate such dynamism in understanding the impact of oral disorders on the life of elders. to explore the existence of alternative views on oral health through values, beliefs and behaviors of older adults. Focus group discussions occurred among 42 men and women between the ages of 64 and 93 years old. Participants were from community and seniors centres and retirement homes. Each discussion lasted for about 90 minutes and was tape-recorded for verbatim transcription. Data were analyzed systematically and comparatively using a thematic approach to explore the depth of opinions and understandings of oral health and disability. Participants shared the acceptance of some oral impairment and disability as an alternative view of a 'healthy' mouth as they balanced gains and losses, adjusted expectations, and sought social support. Participants discussed that an edentulous mouth might not always be disruptive to daily functioning for all. As a result, a full set of new dentures may not always be the ultimate goal.

We examine a strategy for improving oral health in the United States by focusing on low-income children in school-based settings. Vulnerable children often experience cultural, social, economic, structural, and geographic barriers when trying to access dental services in traditional dental office settings. These disparities have been discussed for more than a decade in multiple US Department of Health and Human Services publications. One solution is to revise dental practice acts to allow registered dental hygienists increased scope of services, expanded public health delivery opportunities, and decreased dentist supervision. We provide examples of how federally qualified health centers have implemented successful school-based dental models within the parameters of two state policies that allow registered dental hygienists varying levels of dentist supervision. Changes to dental practice acts at the state level allowing registered dental hygienists to practice with limited supervisi...

Dental education on specific knowledge and intervention approaches for working with people living on welfare is crucial to the therapeutic success of the relationships dental professionals establish with this clientele. Despite growing attention to the importance of cultural competence and communication skills training in dentistry, very few initiatives have been documented in relation to serving low-income populations. Following discussions at a 2006 Montreal-based colloquium on access to dental care, academics, dental association administrators, and public health agency and antipoverty coalition representatives began collaborating to develop innovative pedagogy designed to increase providers' competence in interacting with their underprivileged patients. The group's first round of workshops (November 2006-October 2007) resulted in the creation of an original video-based tool containing testimonies from six individuals living currently or formerly on welfare. The videotaped...

East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine is responding to the changes in today's health care system by implementing an innovative model of community-based dental education that prepares tomorrow's dentists to meet North Carolina's future oral health challenges while also providing much-needed care in many underserved areas.

Abstract –  Oral health promotion effectiveness reviews have identified the need to improve the quality of the evaluation of interventions. A project was undertaken to identify and assess the quality of available outcome measures. This paper describes the methodology adopted and highlights the need for further development of oral health promotion outcome measures. Initially a thorough and comprehensive search of both the published and unpublished literature was undertaken to identify potential outcome measures. A set of quality criteria was then developed and used to assess the identified measures. The search identified a total of 1202 outcome measures of which 39% (n = 466) were developed for use with schoolchildren. A high proportion of the identified measures were classified as health literacy and healthy lifestyle outcomes, appropriate for the evaluation of oral health education activities. Only 1% (n = 12) of measures identified were classified in the healthy public policy category. When reviewed against the quality criteria, 49% (n = 594) of the measures were considered satisfactory. The poorest performing measures were those classified as healthy lifestyle and health literacy measures in which only 33% (n = 72) and 41% (n = 240), respectively, were deemed to be of satisfactory quality. In conclusion, a significant number of oral health promotion evaluation outcome measures have been identified although their quality is highly variable. Very few high-quality outcome measures exist for use in the evaluation of oral health policy and environmental interventions. The lack of appropriate and high-quality outcome measures is hampering the development of oral health promotion.

Periodontitis is a multifactorial disease, commonly associated with most of the lifestyle diseases. In the recent years, the association between periodontitis with occupational stress has evolved in various studies in many developed settings. This study aims at studying the prevalence of periodontal disease and its relationship with job stress among industrial labor workers covered under Employee's State Insurance Corporation Scheme. The study included 180 subjects who were informed about the research goals, and also requested to sign consents. The questionnaire included parts from the generic job stress questionnaire from the National Institute of Job Stress and Health. Dental examinations based on community periodontal index protocol were done using WHO probe. Participants with moderate to severe periodontitis (score 3, 4) were informed about the salivary cortisol test. The saliva samples were collected and transported to the lab. Data were entered in EPI info 3.1.1 and analyz...

PURPOSE As recently as the 1990s long-term care facilities (LTCFs) were the main housing option for semi- or fully-dependent elders. Today, 90% of those 65 and older want to "age in place." The growth of the elderly population that want to "age in place" will require increasing numbers of professional caregivers to assist in oral care practices. The purpose of this study was to address the gap in the knowledge about the oral care practices and beliefs of professional caregivers who work for non-medical in-home care companies charged in the care of "aging in place" elders. METHODS The Nursing Dental Coping Belief Scale was used in a descriptive cross-sectional study. Professional caregivers (n=67) employed by 3 non-medical in-home care companies in South Texas completed the survey. The survey gathered demographic information, oral care practice questions and oral health belief questions. Statistics used for data analysis included chi-square contingency t...

A primary teeth and its permanent tooth germ are most of the time seen as an interdependent units, where each one of them interacts with and depends on each other. Intrusive injury is a most common type of an injury to primary dentition and requires a pediatric dentist to carefully examine not only the damaged tooth, but possible sequelae to the permanent tooth germ. Alteration in eruption and / or in development, as a consequence of inflammation / infection of the preceding primary teeth, such as: hypoplasia, morphological alteration on the dental crown or total arrest of radicular formation. The response of the dento-alveolar apparatus to infection is characterized by inflammation which may result in tooth resorption. This may be a consequence of infective endodontic pathosis alone or superimposed on trauma induced resorption. These infection induced resoprtions, which are generally termed inflammatory root resorptions, may occur as internal resorptions, external resorptions or combined internal-external lesions. This manuscript will present a rare case of a primary tooth onto its permanent tooth bud that showed one such case scenario of a pathological root resorption of primary teeth following a posssible intrusive injury. The condition analysed in this study belong to a patient who visited our Children's Dentistry Clinic. These conditions are often overlooked by parents mainly because less attention is given to the primary dentition and to the child's inability to cope with the situation. The earlier this kind of condition is diagnosed, the less would be the destructive effects and the consequences on the permanent germ unit.

Dental and periodontal problems are common in pregnant women, more so in women belonging to low socioeconomic strata and those living in rural areas. Severe periodontal diseases can lead to adverse birth outcomes like preterm delivery and low birth weight babies. Although largely preventable through evidence based interventions, periodontal diseases are highly prevalent in the pregnant female population of rural India. The single best strategy to approach this problem is providing oral health education to these females. However, currently there are no existing policies to address this issue. We propose integrating an " Oral Health " component in the antenatal care program. Training health professionals and ASHAs to deliver this information is a cost effective, efficacious and feasible policy option requiring minimum effort on the part of stakeholders. Context " You lose one tooth for every baby you have " is a commonly held myth regarding oral health and pregnancy. A woman's pregnancy experience is often related to one or both of the two most prevalent diseases of the oral cavity, namely dental caries and periodontitis. Hormonal changes during pregnancy are associated with increased risk of gingivitis, a milder form of and precursor to more severe periodontal disease [1,2], making pregnant women more vulnerable to oral health issues. Studies suggest an association between severe periodontal disease and adverse birth outcomes such as preterm delivery and infant low birth weight [3-5]. Other hypothesized associations are with diseases like atherosclerosis [6], rheumatoid arthritis [7], diabetes [8] and increased chances of offspring suffering from early and severe dental caries [4,9]. Although largely preventable through evidence-based interventions, both periodontal disease and caries in women of child bearing age are highly prevalent across the world, particularly among low-income women and members of racial and ethnic minority groups [10-12]. Also, the perceived barriers to dental care access may be greater for pregnant women because the window of treatment is limited to the second trimester (approximately 4 months). It has also been observed that general practitioners and midwives are inadequately informed about the impact of poor maternal oral health and rarely investigate this issue during prenatal care. Many general practitioners also believe that all dental procedures are unsafe during entire pregnancy [13]. Despite the large proportion of pregnant women who have dental problems, 40% of them do not visit dentist during pregnancy, and the majority of those who utilize dental services do so only in the event of dental pain [4,13-15]. A research conducted in Sri Lanka shows that pregnant women in rural areas had a significantly higher