Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is an important bacterium with significant pathological implications in the field of medicine. Attempting to cure bacterial infections at an advanced stage results in considerable waste of time, effort and expenditure. Thus, the prevention of such illnesses is paramount. Besides using chemical drugs to treat infections, several non-organic extracts have been tested in trials and been shown to impede the bacteria’s growth. This paper proposes that the modified hydrothermal nanotitania extract has great potential to combat this lethal organism. The viability of S. aureus was shown to be markedly reduced following the addition of nanotitania extract with 0.01%, 0.03% and 0.05% silver after 24, 48, and 72 hours. The ability of the nanotitania extract to inhibit the growth of S. aureus indicates its antimicrobial characteristics.

Linum usitatissimum commonly known as flaxseed is one of the oldest crops traditionally cultivated mainly for its oil purposes. Flaxseed is widely known for its rich source of nutritive and bioactive compounds. Recently, it has gained considerable interest due to the potential health benefits attributed to its component of metabolites, including its antimicrobial properties. Two main components of flaxseed, the unsaturated fatty acids and lignan, are suggested as the main metabolites that exhibit antimicrobial activities. This paper aims to give an overview on fatty acid and phenolic compound in flaxseed and their possible activities as antimicrobial agents.

The study aimed to compare the scope and pattern of practice between general dental practitioners (GDPs), restorative dentistry specialists and endodontists. Self-administered postal questionnaires were distributed to 22 restorative dentistry specialists, 16 endodontists and a random sample of 566 GDPs. The pre-tested questionnaire inquired about demographic data, endodontic practices and referrals. Fisher’s exact test with Bonferroni adjustment was performed for pairwise comparisons. The overall response rate was 73.8%. The restorative dentistry specialists and the endodontists performed a wider array of endodontic procedures than the GDPs and were more consistent in the use of specific armamentarium (p<0.017). Endodontists were referred to mostly for cases requiring advanced endodontic skills, while restorative dentistry specialists were mainly consulted for second opinions, pain and restorative management. GDPs should be encouraged to further their education on endodontic practice. Overlapping scope of practice and referrals among the specialists, merits scrutiny to optimize resources and manpower

Human salivary exosomes have been identified as a highly informative nanovesicle with clinical-relevant information for variation of diagnostic purposes. As a continued effort from previous studies on human salivary exosomes effect at gene expression level, this study is carried out to observe the morphology of human periodontal fibroblast (HPdLF) treated with exosomes cells under the same period of changes in genotypic level occurred. In vitro, HPdLF cells were cultured for 24 hours with 10 µg/ml of human salivary exosomes. The morphology of HPdLF cells was examined under inverted light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for both control samples and samples treated with human salivary exosomes, while the cell count was performed via trypan blue staining. There was no significant difference in the morphology under the inverted light microscopy and the cell number of HPdLF cells for both treated and untreated cells with exosomes. However, for SEM, the treated HPdLF with salivary exosomes showed slight observable changes on the filopodia, lamellipodia, cytoplasmic vesicles and the cytoskeleton of the cells. Even within a short period (24 hours) of culturing time for cells with human salivary exosomes, the samples showed minimal changes which positively suggested a simultaneous event of exchanging materials from human salivary exosomes to cells had occurred, hence, potentially proving that human salivary exosomes can enhance cell proliferation

Infection of the oral cavity with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) has been implicated as one of the risk factors for the development of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Among the high-risk HPV types, HPV 16 and 18 are the most common infective agents in oral cancers. This study aimed to compare the presence of high-risk HPV in genetic materials obtained from saliva, blood and tissues of OSCC patients in Malaysia. The genomic DNA was extracted from saliva (n=13), blood (n=59) and tissue (n=63) and subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of human beta globin gene to confirm the presence and integrity of DNA. Positive amplification was then screened for high-risk HPV by nested PCR using MY11/09 and GP5+/6+ consensus primers, followed by a further confirmation by DNA sequencing of the positive samples. As a result, two saliva samples (2/13; 15.4%) were found to harbour HPV 16 and one tissue sample (1/63; 1.6%) was shown to be positive for HPV 18. However, none of the blood samples were positive for high-risk HPV. Thus, HPV is more likely to be found in the saliva of OSCC patients as compared to blood and tissue samples. The detection of high-risk HPV in OSCC patients is useful in deciding how to manage the patient as HPV-associated OSCC has better prognosis.

Oral candidiasis is an opportunistic infection of the oral cavity. This study aimed to determine prevalence of oral candidiasis in patients with palatal coverage orthodontic appliances and prostheses and its risk factors. Three groups of patients were recruited after an informed consent. The two tested groups were the denture and the upper removable orthodontic appliance (URA) groups while patients with no prosthesis/appliance acted as control. The assessments included demographic profile, denture/URA age, night-time wearing and duration of wearing. Signs and symptoms of candidiasis were examined intra-orally. Unstimulated salivary flow rate test was also performed. Smears samples were taken from palatal mucosa and impression surfaces of denture/URA and stained with Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS). The data were analysed using descriptive and chisquare tests. A total of 86 patients were recruited; denture (n=30), URA (n=22), control (n=34). Denture and URA groups had significantly more positive cases of candidal infection (56.7 and 72.7% respectively) as compared to control group (20.6%). Among the subjects with oral candidiasis, denture patients were detected to have more severe amount of candidal hyphae (20%) than URA (13.6%) group. The relationships between oral candidiasis and these risk factors i.e. age, night-time wearing, daily total hours of wearing and denture/URA hygiene were statistically significant (p<0.05). Thus, patients who are wearing palatal coverage removable appliances or prostheses have higher prevalence of oral candidiasis. The risk is greater with confounding factors such as age, duration of wearing and oral hygiene

The present study aims to investigate and compare the hard and soft tissue cephalometric measurement among Malaysian Malay and Chinese subjects. This study is a cross-sectional study of secondary data. Data consists of 470 standardized lateral cephalometric radiographs of Malaysian Malay and Chinese adults which were picked randomly among orthodontic patients of Hospital USM. The criteria of selection were pre-treatment lateral cephalometric film of Malay and Chinese orthodontic patients aged 18-25 years which has good quality with visible landmarks. All cephalometric landmarks were located and determined and subsequently all measurements were done per COGS analysis using CASSOS software. Independent t-tests were performed for statistical comparison. Out of the 38 measurements, 4 were found significantly different between the sexes for Malaysian Chinese and 18 were found significantly different between the sexes for Malaysian Malay. Statistically significant disparities were also found between Malaysian Malay and Chinese as 16 measurements has p-value of < 0.05. Disparities were observed in COGS values between the two races and each sex group.

This study was to determine the sociodemographic and clinicopathological factors that were associated with mortality of OSCC patients managed at Hospital USM. The prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) in these patients and its association with epithelial proliferation rate were also determined. A retrospective study was conducted whereby medical records of patients diagnosed with OSCC and tissue specimens from 2005 to 2015 were studied. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue specimens were evaluated for histological grading of OSCC, p16 overexpression and Ki-67 immunostaining. Descriptive statistics, simple and multiple logistics regressions were used for data analysis. Prognostic factors for mortality includes male gender (AOR=10.89; 95% CI: 1.99, 59.65; p = 0.006), alcohol consumption (AOR = 16.45; 95% CI: 1.36, 59.65; p = 0.028), not receiving treatment (AOR = 5.88; 95% CI: 1.03, 33.61; p = 0.046) and late stage (T3, T4) at presentation (AOR = 4.85; 95% CI: 1.12, 21.02; p = 0.035). Significant association was found between high-risk HPV positivity and higher epithelial proliferation rate expression (p < 0.003) in the OSCC tissue specimens.

Traumatic dental injuries are frequent problems among teenagers, affecting aesthetics, functionality and quality of life. With regards to the present case, there was an inadequate restorative space for anterior restorations due to the dentoalveolar compensation two years after a traumatic event and was particularly challenging. The use of the Dahl concept to create restorative space is well documented particularly in patients with localized tooth wear. However, there are no evidence to justify the feasibility of Dahl concept application on the fractured teeth. The purpose of this article is to provide a detailed description regarding this technique to create the necessary restorative space of the fractured teeth.

Parotid glands have diverse histological findings thanks to abundant different types of cells presence in the gland. Our routine fine needle aspiration cytology might be inaccurate and misleading in cases where there are cell changes due to ongoing concurrent infection and chronic sialadenitis, which might have mimicked tumoural changes. We highlighted a rare case of multiple florid benign hyperplasia of oncocytic cells of the parotid gland that manifest as parotid swelling. The characteristic multifocality of the lesion and high rate of recurrences, although not a known malignant entity, resulting in a significant shift in the treatment plan for the patient.