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Background Coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) is a public health emergency of international concern. The dental professionals are considered to be at high risk, as most of the treatments may lead to the spread of infection due to direct proximity with saliva, blood and aerosols generation. Aim The aim of the current study was to evaluate the awareness, regarding COVID19 pandemic among dental practioners in state of Telangana. Materials and methodology A self-administered, structured, pilot-tested close-ended 20 point questionnaire,was distributed among the dental practioners in Telangana state. A total of 385 participants completed the questionnaire. Data obtained was analyzed using SPSS 22.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) for data analysis. Results Among 385 participants a total of 115 (29.9%) exhibited high level of knowledge while 167 (43.4%) demonstrated moderate knowledge and 103 (26.8%) demonstrated low level of knowledge. Mean knowledge score was 12.46 ± 2.47, minimum and maximum scores were 5 and 15 respectively among the dental practioners (DPs). Conclusion All the respondents seem to have adequate knowledge regarding COVID19 and adoption of control measures to prevent the spread of COVID19. However, some deficiencies were noted. The, dentists, must be well informed of the recommended practices.Initiatives for attending webinars, continuing dental education programs on COVID19, have to be undertaken to keep them selves updated and be prepared with extra precautionary measures to be taken.

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The age threshold of 14 years has become vital in proving legal violations involving children, particularly in cases of suspected child labour, child pornography and the minimum age of criminal responsibility. In recent years, there has been great interest in the evaluation of age in children and sub-adults using analysis of regressive changes in teeth, with a particular focus on age thresholds that are of medico-legal importance. This research aimed to compare the sensitivity and specificity of stages of root pulp visibility by Olze et al. in a sample of South Indian children aged between 12 and 16 years, with an age threshold of 14 years, using receiver operating characteristic curves and the area under the curve (AUC). Among the four stages of root pulp visibility, stage 2 showed the highest AUC in both female and male cohorts. For stage 2, lower sensitivity and higher specificity values were recorded, indicating the possibility of type II errors (i.e. false negatives). In both sexes, stage 2 had a higher AUC (i.e. 0.696 in females and 0.706 in males, respectively). Based on our findings, it can be concluded that this staging method in lower first molars is of limited value in indicating the legal age threshold of 14 years. Future research should validate the proposed approach in a larger sample and consider how to improve predictions in this area.

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