A study was done to assess and compare the levels of infection control practices amongst Year 3, 4 and 5 undergraduate dental students at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Malaysia. This study also compared the levels of infection control practices between the operators and the assistants performing a similar task. A checklist was designed based on the Infection Control Guidelines published by the Faculty of Dentistry. The audit checklist criteria were specific to the operators and assistants or common to both. 10 pairs of students (operators and assistants) were randomly selected from Polyclinics A, B and C, representing Year 3, 4 and 5 students respectively (n=60). The subjects were audited as soon as they entered the clinic, during treatment and up until they exited the polyclinic. The data collected were analysed using SPSS and Rasch model. Year 3 students performed better infection control practices (1.43 logit) followed by Year 5 (0.96 logit) and Year 4 (0.94 logit) students. The operators in Year 5 and the assistants in Year 3 and 4 were more compliant to infection control practices. 100% of students complied with removal of gown before leaving the clinic. However, only 1.7% of dental students wore protective goggles or face shield during treatment and disinfected prostheses before and after inserting into patient’s mouth. Introduction and reinforcement of infection control practices should be incorporated at the beginning of each academic year for all students to allow for better practice and delivery of treatment to patients.
Students, Dental

Primary intra-osseous squamous cell carcinoma (PIOSCC) is a rare tumour which occurs centrally within the jaws. It is believed to arise from odontogenic epithelial remnants or from pre-existing odontogenic cysts/tumours. A case of PIOSCC arising from an odontogenic cyst in a 57-year-old female is discussed. Initial clinical and radiographic examination was suggestive of an odontogenic cyst / cystic tumour. The lesion was enucleated and sent for diagnostic histopathology which revealed the presence of an invasive carcinoma arising from the walls of the odontogenic cyst. The patient then underwent right mandibular resection and reconstruction as well as right supra-omohyoid neck dissection. Long standing odontogenic cysts have the potential to undergo malignant transformation though this may not always be the case. Relying only on radiographic findings for the management of cyst-like lesions without obtaining histopathological diagnosis is extremely ill-advised.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell

This in-vitro study aimed to evaluate and compare the marginal leakage and penetration ability of a moisture-tolerant (Embrace WetBondTM) and a conventional (ClinproTM) resin-based sealants under three different enamel surface preparations (acid etched, acid etched and saliva contaminated and bur preparation and acid etched). One hundred and twenty extracted caries free human premolars teeth were cleaned and randomly divided into six groups of equal numbers, according to the type of sealants used and surface preparations. All the sealed teeth were subjected to thermocycling and immersed in a methylene blue dye. Each tooth was then embedded into acrylic resin before it was sectioned into four sections per tooth. Marginal leakage and unfilled surface area (indicating penetration depth of resin) were then measured using an optical 3D measurement device (Alicona Infinite Focus®). Both sealants exhibited comparable proportion of marginal leakage on acid etched only surfaces. Moisture-tolerant sealant showed the least proportion of marginal leakage on bur prepared and etched surfaces. Presence of saliva has detrimental effect on adhesion of both sealants. Nevertheless, depth of penetration of sealant into the fissures is comparable with both sealant types irrespective of the surface preparations.
Pit and Fissure Sealants ; Dental Caries ; Dental Materials

Euphorbia tirucalli Linn. is traditionally used as medicine especially in the treatment of diseases caused by bacterial pathogens. The objectives of the present study were to identify the bioactive compounds in the stem of Euphorbia tirucalli Linn. using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis, and to investigate their potentials as an alternative for antimicrobial activity. Two-microliters of dried powdered of Euphorbia tirucalli Linn. stem were mixed with methanol followed by injection into splitless mode of GC-MS. Separation was achieved by Elite-5MS fused capillary column. The mass spectra were compared with the spectra of known components stored in the NIST and WILEY databases for compound identification. Forty-six chemical constituents were identified. The major constituents were lanosta-8,24-dien-3-ol, (3β)- (13.60%), (23S)-ethylcholest-5-en-(3β)-ol (7.02%), linoleic acid (2.96%) and viminalol (2.57%). Most of the active compounds present in the stem of Euphorbia tirucalli Linn. have previously been shown to exhibit antimicrobial properties.
Plants, Medicinal ; Medicine, Traditional

Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) measures the extent of agreement and consistency among raters for two or more numerical or quantitative variables. This review paper aimed to present several tables that could illustrate the minimum sample sizes required for estimating the desired effect size of ICC, which is a measurement of the magnitude of an agreement. Determination of the minimum sample size under such circumstances is based on the two fundamentally important parameters, namely the actual value of the ICC and the number of observations made by each subject. The sample size calculations are derived from Power Analysis and Sample Size (PASS) software where the alpha and minimum required power is fixed at 0.05 and higher than 0.80 respectively. A discussion on how to use these tables for determining sample sizes required for each of the various scenarios and the limitations associated with their use in each of these scenarios is provided.

The present study aimed to determine the best polymerase chain reaction (PCR) conditions for amplification of odontoblast markers; alkaline phosphatase (ALP), dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1), dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) and osteopontin (OPN). Informed consent was obtained from the individuals prior to tooth extraction. RNA was extracted from odontoblasts obtained from extracted teeth using innuPREP RNA Mini kit (Analytik Jena, Germany). Five selected target factors in enhancing PCR: primer concentration, extension time, number of cycles, annealing time, and annealing temperature were manipulated to yield the correct size of amplicons. One step reverse transcriptase PCR reactions were performed using MyTaq One-Step RT-PCR kit (Bioline, USA) with a C1000 Thermal Cycler (Bio-Rad, USA) in a 25 µL reaction, keeping the amount of 2 ng/µL RNA, 0.25 µL reverse transcriptase, 0.5 µL RiboSafe Rnase inhibitor and 1X MyTaq One-Step Mix, constant. The optimal conditions were determined to be 400nM of primers for DMP1 and DSPP, 200 nM for ALP and OPN; 30 seconds of extension time and 35 PCR cycles for all genes; 10 seconds of annealing time for ALP, DMP1 and DSPP, 7 seconds for OPN. The annealing temperature were 56.4°C for ALP, 58.6°C for DMP1, 52.7°C for DSPP, and 56.3°C for OPN, respectively. The optimized PCR protocols produced the correct size of odontoblast markers.
Polymerase Chain Reaction

Sialolithiasis is one of the commonest disease of salivary glands. Submandibular salivary gland or its duct is a major site of sialolithiasis and it is always leads to sialadenitis. However large sialolith formation and self-extrusion is a rare condition. A case of submandibular sialolithiasis is reported where patient presents with recurrent submandibular swelling and subsequently end up with a spontaneous extrusion. The mechanisms and management of the salivary gland calculi are also discussed.
Salivary Gland Calculi

Surgical ciliated cyst of the maxilla is a rare complication following surgical procedures or trauma involving the maxillary sinus. It can occur at any time after any procedures or trauma involving the maxillary sinus even though many years have lapsed. Clinically it may mimic other cysts of the maxillary sinus therefore a thorough history taking is necessary for diagnosis. Treatment is usually by enucleation or marsupialisation. This report highlighted a case of surgical ciliated cyst involving the right maxillary sinus probably secondary to maxillary sinus procedures, which were performed 30 years prior to presentation.
Maxillary Sinus

Discovery of drugs from medicinal plants continues to provide major leads against various pharmacological targets, particularly in cancer diseases. Hence, there are increasing demands to discover more therapeutic agents from various species of medicinal plants. Chemical compounds in plants are important for human beings due to their therapeutic properties. Goniothalamus umbrosus, Typhonium flagelliforme, Myrmecodia pendens, Strobilanthes crispus and Clinacanthus nutans, are among the herbal species, which are consumed by cancer patients in order to combat against the growth of cancer cells. The present review aims to highlight on the anti-cancer properties of the listed Malaysian herbs.
Plants, Medicinal ; Neoplasms

Perivitelline fluid, extracted from the fertilized eggs of horseshoe crabs, has been reported to play a vital role in supporting embryogenesis as well as cell proliferation. The present study aims to evaluate the effect of PVF on the expression of COL1A1 in human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). The cells were grouped into two; untreated (control) and treated with a single dose of PVF (0.019 mg/ml). Gene expression was quantified for COL1A1 on day 1, 3 and 7 using reverse transcriptase PCR. The expression of COL1A1 on day 3 of treated group with PVF was the highest though there was a decline of COL1A1 expression on day 7. Mann Whitney test was utilized to determine the significance of COL1A1 expression between treated and untreated groups. Significant difference in the expression of COL1A1 was observed between the treated and untreated groups on day 3 though there was no significance in the expression on day 7. The present study indicates that PVF may have the potential to increase cell proliferation in human DPSCs.
Dental Pulp ; Horseshoe Crabs ; Stem Cells