International Journal of Dental and Health Sciences

8

Authors: R.Mensudar1, V.G.Sukumaran2, A. Julius3

Root canal therapy is a highly prevalent treatment option in today’s dental practice. The outcome of endodontic therapy is associated with various factors in order to maintain the quality of root canal treatment standards including both root canal fillings and coronal restorations and individual factors such as dentist knowledge, attitudes and skills. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to gather information about the various aspects, technical and biological methods, materials, and attitudes employed during root canal therapy performed both by the general dental practitioners and endodontists and to compare their choice with established endodontic treatment standards, in order to evaluate and improve the quality of current practice. The results of the present study revealed the attitudes, techniques, materials and methods employed both by the general dentists and the endodontists to perform the root canal therapy. The survey questionnaire is a common instrument used in evaluating health care systems. The major disadvantage of surveys is that often only low response rates are obtained when the questionnaire is posted or mailed. Thus in order to overcome this drawback, in the present study the data was collected by meeting the dentists in person and the response was noted, which eventually overcome the bias also. Within the limitations of the above study, the following trends were identified: Majority of the clinicians establish the apical stop at a level 1 mm from the radiographic apex, the traditional method, which is still followed. Single visit root canal therapy is more common in all type of cases. Low level use of rubber dam for isolation during endodontic therapy was a striking feature noted in both the type of respondents. Keywords: root canal therapy, irrigant, attitude, survey, questionnaire

10

Authors: Sadia Shabbir Jumani1, Gul-E-Erum2, Imtiaz Ahmed3

Introduction: One of the methods to asses vertical facial morphology is to correlate it with the angle formed between the mandibular plane and the SN plane. This study was conducted to determine if there is any relation between dental arch width and vertical facial morphology as determined by the SN-MP angle. Methods: Lateral cephalogram and dental casts were obtained from 100 untreated Pakistani adults (24 males and 76 females) above 18 year old with no cross bite, minimal crowding and spacing. The angle between the anterior cranial base and the mandibular plane was measured on lateral cephalogram of each patient. Dental casts were used to obtain maxillary and mandibular inter canine, inter premolar and inter molar widths, as well as amount of crowding or spacing. Results: The results showed that male arch widths were significantly larger than those of females and there was a significant decrease in inter arch width as the MP-SN angle increased. Keywords: Facial morphology,SN plane.

12

Authors: Renuka G Nagarale1,Girish Nagarale2, Preetha J Shetty3, KVVV Prasad4

Introduction: Prisoner is a person who is deprived of his/her liberty; even though they are deprived of their liberty they are not deprived of their right to maintain good general and oral health. Currently, one under researched area has been the oral health status of prisoners. Aim: To assess the oral health status and treatment needs of prisoners in Dharwad district prisons. Methodology: A total of 256 prisoners were examined from two different prisons of Dharwad district. A pro-forma was used to obtain data regarding socio-demographic characteristics, duration of stay in prison, previous dental treatment in prison and oral hygiene habits. The W.H.O. Oral Health Assessment Form (1997) was used to assess the oral health status of the study subjects. Results: 88.28% of prisoners were males and were in the age group of 18-27 years. 47.27% of prisoners were imprisoned for less than 1 year. Prevalence of periodontal disease was 98.5% and dental caries was 82.42%. About 98% of the prisoners did not receive any kind of dental treatment in the prison. 67.19% of subjects needed one surface filling, 18.75% two surface filling, 10.55% pulp care, 31.64% extraction of teeth and 42.58% of study subjects needed replacement of missing teeth. Conclusions: Prisoners were sharing disproportionate burden of oral diseases and there was no provision of oral health services in the prison, hence the study emphasizes the need for oral health programs to improve the oral health of prisoners. Key words: prisoners, oral health, dental treatment in prison, treatment needs