Journal of Islamic Dental Association of IRAN
Volume:31 Issue: 4, Autumn 2019

It is necessary to consider the personality traits of patients to predict their behavior in dental office. This study was performed to determine the ef-fect of patients’ personality traits on their degree of satisfaction with prosthetic-implant therapy.

In this study, 51 partially edentulous patients who had lost 1 to 4 maxillary premolars and 2 months had passed since their prosthetic treatment were selected by convenience sampling. The data collection tool was a researcher-designed questionnaire on satisfaction with fixed implant therapy and NEO five-factor inventory (NEO-FFI), the validity and reliability of which had been proven in previous studies. The relationship between the personality scores and satisfaction was ana-lyzed by t-test and ANOVA. The significance level was set at P<0.05.

The mean score of satisfaction was 34.3±4.37. The mean personality score was 199.96±20.64. There was no significant relationship between the patient satisfaction and age or sex (P>0.05). The less educated patients were significantly more satisfied with their treatment (P=0.041). The highest mean score was found for acceptability and the lowest mean was reported for neuroticism. There was a signifi-cant relationship between taking responsibility and satisfaction (P=0.026).

The personality traits of individuals affected their satisfaction with the treatment, and the patients who were more responsible were more satisfied with their treatment outcome.

With the advent of problem-based learning (PBL), pioneer universities across the world started using this method to improve learning quality. One of its modifications, hybrid-PBL, incorporates a combination of PBL and traditional teaching skills. This study compared the efficacy of hybrid PBL and the conventional instruction in terms of preclinical test scores and clinical procedural er-rors, representing dental students’ knowledge and performance, respectively.

This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 8th (preclinical) and 9th (clinical) semester dental students. Students at each educational level were randomly divided into two groups of conventional PBL and hy-brid PBL using permuted block randomization. Students in group 1 received conventional PBL and those in group 2 received hybrid PBL for the preclinical course on endodontic diagnosis and treatment planning. Similarly, students who took the clinical course were divided into two groups, and received instructions on prevention of canal transportation and zipping. Both groups were compared at the end of the se-mester regarding level of knowledge and clinical performance of students in preclinical and clinical courses, respectively. The acquired scores were analyzed using independent t-test and the logistic regression analysis.

No significant difference was detected between the two learning methods re-garding knowledge. The hybrid PBL caused a significant reduction in the frequency of transportation and zipping errors (P=0.0001).

Hybrid PBL resulted in superior clinical performance with fewer trans-portation and zipping errors by dental students, while its effect was comparable to the conventional method on preclinical knowledge level of students.

Management of children’s behavior is fundamental to a successful and effective dental treatment for children. This study aimed to evaluate the perceptions of dental students towards behavior guidance techniques in pediatric dentistry.

This cross-sectional study was carried out on dental students from three different levels of education. A questionnaire containing demographics, perceived acceptability of behavior guidance techniques (17 statements), and clinical situations (8 statements) was completed by the first-year, third-year, and last-year dental students. The questions were scored using a 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics, the linear regression model, and the Chi-square test were used for statistical analysis.

Totally, 264 dental students participated in this study. The most acceptable behavior guidance technique and clinical situation were positive reinforcement, and parent present during treatment, respectively. The least acceptable technique and clinical situation were passive immobilization, and showing the needle to the child, respectively. There were significant changes in acceptability scores of some behavior guidance techniques including voice control (P=0.00), hand over mouth (HOM) (P=0.00), using nitrous oxide (P=0.00), positive verbal reinforcement (P=0.00), active protective immobilization (P=0.00), passive protective immobilization (P=0.00), providing exact explanation (P=0.00), and general anesthesia (0.02) by increasing the level of education of students.

Non-aversive behavior guidance techniques had the most acceptable scores and some aversive techniques like immobilization, disallowing child speaking during treatment, and HOM had the least acceptable scores. Moreover, the higher the level of dental education, the greater the acceptability of some behavioral guidance techniques would be.

There is lack of information regarding the effect of different denture cleansing solutions on the retention of attachments. This study aimed to as-sess the effect of denture cleansing solutions on the retention of Dalbo-Plus and Loca-tor attachment systems.

This study evaluated 160 attachments including 80 Locator and 80 Dalbo-Plus attachment systems. The attachments were mounted in acrylic resin blocks and were subjected to a universal testing machine to measure their baseline retention. Each attachment system was randomly divided into four groups for immersion in cleansing solutions namely water, 5% sodium hypochlorite diluted 1:10, Dentipur denture cleanser, and Corega denture cleanser for a period of time corresponding to 6 months of clinical service. The attachments’ retention was measured again after the immersion period. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey’s test.

The retention of Dalbo-Plus attachments in water and Dentipur was significantly higher than that in other solutions (P<0.05). The Locator attachments had the highest retention in Dentipur followed by water, Corega, and sodium hypochlorite. The retention of Locator attachments was significantly higher than that of Dalbo-Plus in all solutions (P<0.05). Immersion of attachments in Dentipur in-creased their retention. Locator attachment showed higher retention than the Dalbo-Plus irrespective of the type of cleansing solution.

Dentipur can serve as a suitable denture cleanser since it increased the retention of attachments. Corega decreased the retention of attachments and should be used with care.

Blood samples are used for the diagnosis of many diseases. Serum ferritin level is known to be a marker of anemia and iron overload disorders. However, blood collection is an invasive method. Saliva, as a bio-fluid, contains a va-riety of important components that are successfully used for assessment of body health. The use of saliva samples for ferritin evaluation can be regarded as a simple and noninvasive alternative to serum assessment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the correlation between salivary and serum ferritin levels.

In this cross-sectional study, 107 participants who were re-ferred to a medical laboratory in Qazvin, Iran, voluntarily provided unstimulated sali-va and blood samples using the standard methods. The levels of ferritin in the serum and saliva samples were determined. The Spearman’s rank-order correlation coeffi-cient was used to analyze the data.

The results suggested a positive correlation between the salivary and serum ferritin levels (P=0.004, r=0.27). Gender and age had no significant correlation with salivary and serum ferritin levels (P>0.05).

Considering the equivalent diagnostic efficacy as serum samples, salivary samples can be used as a noninvasive and simple method to determine the ferritin levels.

Knowledge about the root canal system variations is crucial for successful endodontic treatment. This study aimed to examine the applicability of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) as a substitute for the gold-standard tooth clearing technique in identification of internal anatomical variations of mandibular incisors.

This in-vitro study evaluated 66 extracted mandibular incisors. The CBCT scans with 0.1 mm voxel size were obtained using NewTom VGO scanner. The number and type of canals, presence/absence of accessory canals, anas-tomosis, apical delta, and morphology of the root apex were all determined. After clearing and staining of the samples, the parameters were re-evaluated under a stereomicroscope for further examination and comparison with the CBCT data. The agreement of the two methods was evaluated by intra-class correlation and Kappa co-efficients for quantitative and qualitative data, respectively.

The results of CBCT assessment were comparable with the gold standard. The most common type of root canal anatomy detected in the central and lateral incisors was the Vertucci’s type I followed by type III. Most apical foramina were buc-cally-deviated and centralized in mesiodistal aspect. CBCT assessment was not valid for assessment of the accessory canals in central incisors and for assessment of mesi-odistal deviation, while an acceptable agreement was noted for the other parameters.

CBCT showed a high accuracy for identification of root canal configuration of mandibular incisors and was comparable with the clearing technique in root canal system assessment; therefore, it can serve as an acceptable substitute for this purpose.