Journal of Craniomaxillofacial Research
Volume:1 Issue: 3, Summer-Autumn 2014

Nasoalveolar molding represents a paradigm shift from traditional presurgical orthopedics in the care of cleft lip and palate patients which has been applied increasingly in the past two decades. This article is a review of recent literature apropos of objectives, appliances, complications and short and long term effects of this technique.

Despite recent advances in treatment of oral cancer, it still causes high rates of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Delays in diagnosis and treatment of these cancers greatly affect the prognosis. This study aimed to assess the treatment delay and its relation to diagnostic delay among oral cancer patients in Tehran, Iran. We studied 100 patients with primary oral squamous cell carcinoma who were admitted to three teaching hospitals between 2004 and 2006. Treatment delay was defined as the time from diagnosis to the beginning of treatment. Diagnostic delay is considered as the time elapsed between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis. Of all the patients 53% were male with the mean age of 61.5 (SD 15.8 years; range 24-100 years) at diagnosis. The majority of tumors (61%) were at advanced stages when diagnosed (stages III or IV). The mean diagnostic delay was 7.2 months (SD 7.5) and the mean treatment delay was 33.16 days (SD 14.1). Patients who were diagnosed at earlier stages had longer treatment delays (p<0.05), and those who had longer diagnostic delay had shorter treatment delay (p<0.05). Our findings indicated a need for oral cancer prevention campaigns, focused on reducing the delays between the appearance of signs and symptoms, and final diagnosis and treatment to ensure better prognosis and higher quality of life for patients.

Surgical repair of cleft palate with a bony bridge may offer some distinct advantages including a lower rate of fistula formation. The goal of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of surgically inducing cleft palate and reconstruction of the cleft with the use of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) in sheep. In the control group (two sheep), the cleft palate was repaired with standard von Langenbeck technique. In the study group (two sheep), the cleft was repaired with the same technique with the exception that a BMP-2 gel was placed between the two oral and nasal layers. Two months after cleft repair surgery, animals were sacrificed and the cleft sites were evaluated histologically with the use of light microscopy. The results showed that surgically inducing cleft palate and repairing the cleft is feasible in sheep. Microscopic evaluation showed no bone formation in control group and minor bone formation in the study group. To determine whether BMP-2 is a useful adjunct to standard cleft palate repair techniques, an animal study with larger population is required.

Tissue adhesives have been taken into consideration because they do not need to be removed after wound healing. This study was conducted to compare scars remained by Octyl-2-Cyanoacrylate and sutures in traumatic facial wounds in adults. This randomized clinical trial study was performed on 50 patients aged 15-50 years referred to Babol Shahid Beheshti Hospital due to traumatic facial wounds. Written informed consent was obtained for each patient. The patients were divided into two groups. In the first group, patients were treated with 5-0 nylon suture and Octyl-2-Cyanoacrylate was used for wound repairment in second group. The patients were followed up on 1, 7, 60 and 120 days after wound healing and assessed by Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) and Vancouver criteria to evaluate remaining scar. Also amount of pain intensity was determined by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) criteria, 7 days after wound healing. Data was analyzed by SPSS V16, t-test, Friedman, Chi-square and Man-Whitney-U tests. Twenty-eight (56%) were male and 22(44%) female. There was a significant decreasing trend in Vancouver and POSAS indices during 120 days of study (p<0.001). Based on POSAS and Vancouver criteria there was no significant difference between two groups on the days 1, 60 and 120. However, on day 7, there was significantly better healing result in the adhesive group compared to the suture group. Based on the VAS criteria; the average pain intensity was 4.14±1.16 in sutured group, on 7th day (p=0.00). There was no significant difference in wound closure time between the two groups (p=0.07). Generally, there was no significant difference between the scar left by sutures and tissue adhesives after 120 days.

Students’ satisfaction of their supervisor is very important in the process of writing a thesis; while satisfaction is present, favorable outcomes could be expected. This study compared graduate students’ satisfaction of their supervisors from various departments. In this descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in 2013, 90 graduate students who had entered Babol Faculty of Dentistry in 2004, 2005 and 2006 were studied. A valid and reliable questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analyzed by SPSS using descriptive and inferential statistics. Mean age of the participants was 28.4 (SD=6.76) and 42.2% were male. Mean satisfaction score was 28.3±6.3 (out of 36). There was no significant difference among levels of participants’ satisfaction based on their entrance years. The married participants revealed higher satisfaction compared to the singles (p=0.05). The relationship between students’ satisfaction and their course duration was inversely significant (p=0.04). The participants’ satisfaction was not associated with their age, sex, total grade point average (GPA), thesis score, and their supervisors’ education and research history. No significant difference observed among the students’ satisfaction with supervisors from different departments (p=0.58). Reinforcing supervision skills by performing suitable workshops providing a clear role description for faculty members and their students can improve the students'' perspectives and theses presentation quality.

Surgical removal of third molar is one of the most common surgical procedures in oral surgery and is often associated with complications such as pain, swelling and trismus. The main purpose of the study was to assess the therapeutic effect of low level laser (LLL) irradiation on postoperative edema and wound healing compared to routine postoperative management after third molar surgery. A double blinded, randomized, controlled clinical trial was conducted in 2 groups of 20 patients, each undergoing surgical removal of their impacted mandibular third molars. Postoperatively, patients in study group were irradiated with Ga-Al-As laser with a diode wavelength of 890nm and a power output of 80 mw in pulsed mode for 6 minutes intraorally. The control group received only routine post-surgical management including 400 mg Ibuprofen 4 times daily and cold packs. Intraoral low level laser therapy (LLLT) resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the amount of swelling on the 2nd postoperative day compared to the control group. The healing process was significantly better in laser- irradiated wounds. The LLLT with Ga-Al-As laser seems to be safe and can be considered as an effective modality for reducing postoperative discomfort and promoting wound healing after third molar surgery.

Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) is a necrotizing vasculitis characterized by damage to blood vessels and subsequent ischemic tissue changes in various organs. The case presented here is a 51-year-old man with PAN, who has recently developed osteomyelitis of mandible. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of jaw osteomyelitis in patients with PAN.

Klinefelter syndrome includes a group of chromosomal disorders with at least one additional X chromosome in male karyotype (46,XY). Up to now, different dental manifestations such as taurodontism, congenital absence of permanent teeth, shovel incisors, occlusal anomalies and increased permanent tooth size have been reported. A case of Klinefelter syndrome with very rare dental features is presented.