Introduction: Dental caries is a preventable chronic disease whereby identification of risk factors will facilitate preventive measures. This study aims to determine the level of oral health literacy (OHL), self-care practices (SCP), salivary parameters and ascertain its assocation with caries status amongst the undergraduates in IMU University. Methods: Levels of OHL (Knowledge-OHL, dental services utilisation, and label reading habit) and SCP were assessed through a self-administered questionnaire. Chairside saliva kits were used to measure the salivary parameters whilst clinical examination was performed to assess caries status. Independent T-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to compare differences between sex and courses respectively for measures of interest (OHL, SCP, salivary parameters, and caries status) whereas bivariate correlation with Pearsons’s coefficient was performed to examine their association with caries status. Results: The participants (n=132) had a mean Knowledge-OHL score of 23.75±8.09 with no significant difference between sex (females, 24.01±8.51; males, 23.48±7.69; p=0.15). Dentistry students had significantly higher Knowledge-OHL score than students of all other courses (p=0.01). The mean SCP score was 20.19±3.16 whereas mean DMFT was 2.32 ±3.14. All participants had healthy saliva parameters. Caries status was significantly correlated with Knowledge-OHL score (p=0.02, r=-0.18), dental services utilisation (p=0.04, r=-0.15) but not with label reading habit (p=0.78, r=0.03), SCP (p=0.30, r=-0.05) and all salivary parameters. Conclusion Knowledge-OHL and oral health services utilisation are significantly associated with oral health status
Dental Caries ; Health Literacy ; Oral Health ; Saliva ; Self Care

With the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, it has a wide range of explorations in orthodontics. AI has greater application prospects in precise measurement, multidimensional diagnosis, treatment planning and efficacy prediction. At the same time, there are certain limitations in the application of AI, such as risks caused by individual variability, black box properties and unclear delineation of medical responsibilities. This paper summarized the history and current status of AI applications in orthodontics and discussed future development trends, to provide reference for clinical orthodontics.
Humans ; Artificial Intelligence ; Orthodontics ; Dental Care ; Forecasting ; Delivery of Health Care

The number of diabetic patients visiting stomatology for periodontal disease is increasing, and the symptoms are relatively severe, and often complications increase the complexity of periodontal treatment. This article briefly describes the research progress and clinical manifestations of the epidemiology and related pathological mechanisms of periodontitis with diabetes, focusing on the treatment and providing reference for stomatologists in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients with diabetic periodontitis.
Humans ; Periodontitis/therapy* ; Diabetes Mellitus/therapy* ; Periodontal Diseases ; Dental Care ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Diabetes Complications/complications*

OBJECTIVE: To compare the parental acceptance of dental treatment under general anesthesia and deep sedation in children and assess the changes in postoperative oral health-related quality of life and treatment efficacy. METHODS: The parents of 131 children undergoing dental treatment in the Department of Stomatology of Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital from January, 2022 to June, 2022 were surveyed using a questionnaire of children's advanced oral behavior management, and 83 children receiving general anesthesia or deep sedation for dental treatment between January, 2018 and December, 2021 were also investigated for changes in quality of life after the treatment using a questionnaire. The treatment efficacy was assessed at the 1-year follow-up visit in 149 children who received dental treatment under general anesthesia or deep sedation during the same period. RESULTS: The survey of perantal acceptance showed that 62.6% of the parents preferred deep sedation, 29.01% preferred general anesthesia, and 8.4% preferred compulsory treatment. Dental treatments under general anesthesia and deep sedation both significantly improved oral health-related quality of life of the children. While dental surgeries under general anesthesia resulted in the most significant improvement of pain symptoms, deep sedation was associated with both obvious relief of the children's pain symptoms and reduction of the parents' pressure level. No significant difference was found in the efficacy of treatments under general anesthesia and deep sedation at the 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSION Dental treatment in children under deep sedation has the highest parental acceptance, followed by treatment under general anesthesia, and the acceptance of compulsory treatment is the lowest. The treatments under general anesthesia and deep sedation significantly improve the quality of life of the children and their parents and both have good treatment efficacy.
Humans ; Child ; Quality of Life ; Deep Sedation ; Child Behavior ; Treatment Outcome ; Anesthesia, General ; Parents ; Pain ; Dental Care ; Dental Caries

Objective: To explore the effect of scanning methods on finish line trueness of the full crown preparation. Methods: The standard full crown preparation model of the right maxillary first molars was prepared by using the maxillary standard resin dentition model. The standard preparation was scanned by imetric scanner and data were used as the true value. CEREC Omnicam and 3Shape TRIOS were used to scan the standard preparation. According to the scanning methods, they were divided into parallel scanning group, occlusal wave scanning group and buccolingual wave scanning group. Each group was scanned repeatedly 6 times. The data were imported into Geomagic Studio 2013 software, and the local finish line image data of the mesial, distal, buccal and lingual regions of the full crown preparation were extracted respectively. Three-dimensional deviation analysis was performed with the reference true value, and the root- mean-square error (RMSE) was the evaluation index of scanning trueness. The statistical method was one-way ANOVA. Results: Parallel scanning group: in general, the RMSE value of complete finish lines of scanner B [(35±6) μm] was significantly lower than that of scanner A [(44±7) μm](P<0.05). After scanner A occlusal wave scanning, the RMSE values of the mesial and distal finish lines [(33±5) and (50±12) μm] were significantly lower than those of parallel scanning group (P<0.05). After buccal and lingual wave scanning, the RMSE values of local finish lines in the mesial, distal, buccal and lingual regions [(37±3), (50±6), (28±6) and (29±8) μm] were significantly lower than those in parallel scanning group [(45±9), (63±7), (38±3) and (40±3) μm] (P<0.05). No significant difference was found in the RMSE values of the mesial, distal, buccal and lingual regions of scanner B between parallel scanning group, occlusal wave scanning group and buccolingual scanning group (P>0.05). Conclusions: The scanning trueness of the full crown preparation finish line obtained by the active triangulation scanning equipment can be improved by changing the scanning method to wave scanning.
Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Dental Impression Technique ; Computer-Aided Design ; Dental Care ; Crowns

Oral diseases are highly prevalent in China, while oral health services are generally underutilized and public health resources are wasted. Lacking oral insurance may be one of the leading causes. The basic medical insurance of China does not cover dental care in most cities, which is worthy to further discuss. To better understand the experience of dental insurance from international dental care practice, the dental coverage scope, content, co-pay ratio, and effects of oral insurance on oral health improvement from the abroad countries with typical health insurance systems were summarized by using scoping review. Then, we discussed the coverage scope for dental health of basic medical insurance and private insurance in China. We also analyzed the current issues of dental care coverage and cost-share. At last, we proposed thoughts and suggestions to establish and improve a multi-level oral health insurance system with Chinese characteristics under the basic medical insurance frame. In particular, we gave suggestions on increasing the coverage for high dental care xpenditure by ebasic medical insurance, supplying children and teenagers with preventive dental care, and encouraging private insurance companies to cover dental care expenditure.
Child ; Adolescent ; Humans ; Insurance, Dental ; Dental Care ; China

The dental operative microscope has been widely employed in the field of dentistry, particularly in endodontics and operative dentistry, resulting in significant advancements in the effectiveness of root canal therapy, endodontic surgery, and dental restoration. However, the improper use of this microscope continues to be common in clinical settings, primarily due to operators' insufficient understanding and proficiency in both the features and established operating procedures of this equipment. In October 2019, Professor Jingping Liang, Vice Chairman of the Society of Cariology and Endodontology, Chinese Stomatological Association, organized a consensus meeting with Chinese experts in endodontics and operative dentistry. The objective of this meeting was to establish a standard operation procedure for the dental operative microscope. Subsequently, a consensus was reached and officially issued. Over the span of about four years, the content of this consensus has been further developed and improved through practical experience.
Humans ; Dentistry, Operative ; Consensus ; Endodontics ; Root Canal Therapy ; Dental Care

Digital guided therapy (DGT) has been advocated as a contemporary computer-aided technique for treating endodontic diseases in recent decades. The concept of DGT for endodontic diseases is categorized into static guided endodontics (SGE), necessitating a meticulously designed template, and dynamic guided endodontics (DGE), which utilizes an optical triangulation tracking system. Based on cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images superimposed with or without oral scan (OS) data, a virtual template is crafted through software and subsequently translated into a 3-dimensional (3D) printing for SGE, while the system guides the drilling path with a real-time navigation in DGE. DGT was reported to resolve a series of challenging endodontic cases, including teeth with pulp obliteration, teeth with anatomical abnormalities, teeth requiring retreatment, posterior teeth needing endodontic microsurgery, and tooth autotransplantation. Case reports and basic researches all demonstrate that DGT stand as a precise, time-saving, and minimally invasive approach in contrast to conventional freehand method. This expert consensus mainly introduces the case selection, general workflow, evaluation, and impact factor of DGT, which could provide an alternative working strategy in endodontic treatment.
Humans ; Consensus ; Endodontics/methods* ; Tooth ; Printing, Three-Dimensional ; Dental Care ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography ; Root Canal Therapy

ABSTRACT Head and neck cancer patients require oral assessment and management prior, during and after cancer treatment to minimise oral complications. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate sociodemographic data, oral health management, oral complications derived from cancer treatment, time frame in completing dental treatment and association between oral management and complications. Purposive record sampling of head and neck cancer patients who completed radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) from 2011 to 2017 were reviewed. A checklist was used to record the data and analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson Chi-square test. A number of 194 patient records were reviewed with majority were Malays (88.1%), males (61.3%) with the mean age of 57.18 years old. Only 21% of the patients had oral assessment prior to cancer treatment. About 84% of the referred patients were dentally fit within 1 month. Mucositis and fungal infections were the most prevalent complications. The relationship between oral assessment prior to cancer treatment and oral complications was not significant (p = 0.134). Despite the insignificant association due to several limitations, oral assessment and management prior, during and after cancer therapy are recognised as crucial for improving quality of life. A standard institutional operating procedure is recommended to improve patient care.
Head and Neck Neoplasms--therapy ; Dental Care

ABSTRACT This retrospective study aimed to evaluate patterns of comprehensive dental treatment under general anaesthesia (GA) for healthy children in Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. The treatment records of healthy paediatric patients who received dental treatment under GA from February 2017 to January 2021 were reviewed. The patients were divided into two groups: (1) less than 6 years old and (2) 6 to 16 years old. Patients’ characteristics were summarised using descriptive statistics while an independent t-test was applied to investigate the influence of “age group” on treatment duration, number of procedures and use of various restorative materials. A total of 125 paediatric patients (67 boys and 58 girls) were included. The patients’ mean age at the time they underwent GA was 5.77 ± 1.94 years old and the average duration of dental treatment was 62.58 minutes. There was a significant difference in the duration of treatment between the two age groups (p < 0.05). Tooth extraction was the most dental procedure performed (63.31%). The 6 to 16 years old group had a significantly shorter treatment duration (p < 0.05). However, no significant differences were found in all procedures (extraction, restoration, preventive and pulp therapy) and the utilisation of composite, glass ionomer cement (GIC) and compomer in both groups. The use of stainless steel crown (SSC) restorations was significantly higher in the less than six years old group (p < 0.05). Most of the dental procedures performed under GA on healthy children were extraction procedures. Children less than six years of old had a longer treatment duration under GA. Composite restorations and SSC were more frequently used in primary dentition.
Pediatric Dentistry ; Dental Care for Children ; Anesthesia, Dental