Health

Dentists Find Additional Bacteria Species Involved with Tooth Decay

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An interesting article titled “Selenomonas sputigena acts as a pathobiont mediating spatial structure and biofilm virulence in early childhood caries,” written by Hunyong Cho and et. al. appears in Nature Communications (vol. 14, no. 1, 2023). The article seeks to study if other bacteria besides Streptococcus mutans are involved with tooth decay and cavities in children, also known as dental caries. Prior to the study it was believed that S. mutans and other acid-making bacteria are adequately removed by teeth-brushing and oral care, and this creates a protective biofilm, or plaque, on teeth. If the plaque is left in place for too long, bacteria consumes sugars from food and drinks and coverts them to acidsm which erode the enamel of affected teeth, in time creating cavities. The article investigated the role of Selenomonas sputigena (S. sputigena) in early cavities in children. S. … Read more

Computer controlled anesthesia for extraction of teeth

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An interesting article titled “Computer-controlled Intraligamentary local anaesthesia in extraction of mandibular primary molars: randomised controlled clinical trial,” appears in the 2022 edition of BMC Oral Health written by Rodaina H. Helmy and et. al. (vol 22, no. 194, pp. 1-10). The article seeks to explore the pain experience when using a computer controlled anethesia injection while extracting lower primary molars in children. To explore the pain experiences of children, 50 healthy children between the ages of 5 and 7, with 29 females, and 21 males, who needed a lower primary molar extractioned were included in the trial. The parents of the children had to consent to inclusion in the trial. Any child who had teeth that showed signs of mobility, acute pathosis, ankylosis, or root resorption affecting more than a third of the root were excluded from the study. … Read more

Orofacial Signs Linked to Lyme Disease

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An interesting article titled “Orofacial Manifestations of Lyme Disease: A systematic review” appears in the The Journal of Dental Hygiene written by Brenda T. Bradshaw and et al. (vol. 95, no. 4, August 2021). The article seeks to perform a systematic review of the types and frequencies of orofacial manifestations of people in the the United States with Lyme disease. In the article the authors performed their systematic review by starting from 217,381 articles that had been searched by a university librarian. The authors weeded these results down substantially due to duplication and to meet their exclusion criteria that included if not with US populations, if not available in English in full text, and if does not have a CDC diagnosis of Lyme disease. This resulted in twelve articles for the analysis with seven from the 1990s, three from the … Read more

Visualization of Facial Pain Sensory Signaling

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An interesting article titled “Visualization of trigeminal ganglion sensory neuronal signaling regulated by Cdk5,” written by M. Hu and et al. appears in the 2022 editon of Cell Reports (Mar 8, vol. 38, no. 10, pp. 110458). The article seeks to explore some of the mechanisms underlying facial pain and used intravital imaging to compare trigeminal neuronal activities after mechanical, thermal, and chemical stimulation. The work was carried out by researchers for the NIH’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Orofacial pain that occurs in the oral and facial region affects 5% to 12% of the U.S. population. This pain can affect daily activities and causes many to seek medications like opioids for releif, but opioids can be addicting. Thus researchers are interested in learning more about how facial nerves process pain signals to help lead to more efficeitn … Read more

Using Artificial Intelligence to Detect Gum Inflammation

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An interesting article titled “Accuracy of Artificial Intelligence-Based Photographic Detection of Gingivitis” appears in the International Dental Journal written by Reinhard Chun Wang Chau and et.al., 2023. The article used artificial intelligence (AI) to provide automated visual plaque control advice based on intraoral photographs. Periodontal disease is a chronic inflammatory disease that is categorised into gingivitis and periodontitis with reversible and irreversible tissue damages. It is beleived to affect mroe than 50% of the world. Periodontal disease is caused by accumulation of plaque biofilm along the gingival margin, which causes local gingival inflammation. As inflammation occurs at the gingival margin, redness, swelling, and loss of stippling appearance as loss of gingival fiber attachment are observed which are changes detected visually by dentists. The study used a deep learning algorithm named DeepLabv3+ built on Keras with TensorFlow to analyze intraoral photographs … Read more