We present a new autofluorescence-imaging method for bone analysis. This method, based on the autofluorescence of bone, provides color images in microscopic scale. The color images are created from three monochrome images acquired with optimal excitation-and emission-wavelengths combinations. The choice of these combinations were determined from the study of two-dimensional distributions of bone-features-bispectral autofluorescence in the visible-and ultraviolet-spectral range. We demonstrate that main-bone features visualized with MG-staining method can also be visualized in the autofluorescence-color image. Furthermore, the autofluorescence-color image presents features hardly distinguished in a histological-bone section.

Purpose: Emerging evidence shows that changes in the bone and its microenvironment following radiotherapy are associated with either an inhibition or a state of low bone formation. Ionizing radiation is damaging to the jawbone as it increases the complication rate due to the development of hypovascular, hypocellular, and hypoxic tissue. This review summarizes and correlates the current knowledge on the effects of irradiation on the bone with an emphasis on jawbone, as these have been a less extensively studied area. Conclusions: The stringent regulation of bone formation and bone resorption can be influenced by radiation, causing detrimental effects at structural, cellular, vascular, and molecular levels. It is also associated with a high risk of damage to surrounding healthy tissues and an increased risk of fracture. Technological advances and research on animal models as well as a few human bone tissue studies have provided novel insights into the ways in which bone can be affected by high, low and sublethal dose of radiation. The influence of radiation on bone metabolism, cellular properties, vascularity, collagen, and other factors like inflammation, reactive oxygen species are discussed.

Despite universal health coverage and a strong public health system, the oral health profile of Finland falls behind in an international age-matched prevalence of oral diseases. The oral healthcare system is organised and funded mainly by municipalities. Other stakeholders include the Finnish Student Health Service foundation (FSHS), government and private practices, where the Social Insurance Institution of Finland plays a major role in funding. Rise in the treatment need in recent years due to the increasing dentulous ageing population has challenged the healthcare system. Governmental response to the demand is an ongoing social and healthcare reform and increase of oral health professional education since 2004. However, the current and future treatment need is not met only by conventional prevention strategies and physical service provision. Finland has over the years supported a determined policy of building a digital healthcare architecture. This applies also to all fields of oral healthcare: virtual education, digital diagnostics, digital clinical workflow, national electronic patient records, patient-generated data registers, electronic prescriptions, remote consultation, digital service management, as well as research and big data mining. These tools could play an important role in improving national oral health and increasing equity. This is an overview of the above-mentioned fields of e-Oral health and teledentistry in Finland based on current scientific literature, national reports, strategies and legislation. Conflict of interest.Anni Palander has worked part time in CSIBIOMED and ODA projects. Arto Holopainen has worked part time for ODA, ISAACUS and MOMEDA teleradiology projects. Tiina Rantamo works part time for VIRSU project.

Health care professionals are in the front line to identify signals of life issues. In Finnish school healthcare 25% of the children are raising concern from the professional’s perspective. In oral health care, ill oral health may be an indicator of issues and vice versa. However, the early inter-professional cross-talk is minimal. The aim of this project was to recognize the patients that would raise concern among oral health care professionals. Holistic interventions of these patients would secondarily improve oral health. Targeting the group with heaviest disease and social burden, the morbidity would cease in the total population. The staff of Kuopio public oral health care was trained for early patient recognition and referral to an oral health intervention clinic. The clinic focused on speaking out the patient’s life situation and individual oral health education. If needed, a multi-professional primary healthcare support team was gathered. With the most complex problems, the family services and child protection services were consulted. In 2017 and 2018 there were 264 and 344 recognized concerning individuals. Through tailored intervention strategies, the target group was able to increase brushing, lower the plague index and improve self-reported oral health (SOH). Total population indicators (decayed-missing-filled index, DMFT and invasive treatment) showed decreasing trends but have too many background variables for reliable effect assessment. Oral health can play an integral role in recognizing compromised individuals. The operational changes created during the project will act as platform for future digital tools.

Radiation therapy (RT) is a treatment option for head and neck cancer (HNC), but 2% of RT patients may experience damage to the jawbone, resulting in osteoradionecrosis (ORN). The ORN can manifest years after RT exposure. Changes in the local microchemical bone quality prior to the clinical manifestation of ORN could play a key role in ORN pathogenesis. Chemical bone quality can be analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), that is applied to examine the effects of cancer, chemotherapy, and RT on the quality of human mandibular bone. Cortical mandibular bone samples were harvested from dental implant beds of 23 individuals, i.e., patients with surgically and radiotherapeutically treated HNC (RT-HNC, [Formula: see text]), surgically and radiochemotherapeutically treated HNC (CH-RT-HNC, [Formula: see text]), only surgically treated HNC (SRG-HNC, [Formula: see text]), and healthy controls ([Formula: see text]). Infrared spectra were acquired from two representative regions of interest in cortical mandibular bone. Spectral parameters, i.e., mineral-to-matrix ratio (MM), carbonate-to-matrix ratio (CM), carbonate-to-phosphate ratio (CP), collagen maturity (cross-linking), crystallinity, acid phosphate substitution (APS), and advanced glycation end products (AGEs), were analyzed for each sample. Amide I region of the CH-RT-HNC group differed from the control group in cluster analysis ([Formula: see text]). Apart from a minor variation trend in collagen maturity ([Formula: see text]), there were no other significant differences between the groups. Thus, the effect of radiochemotherapy on mandibular bone composition should be further investigated. In future trials, this study design is potential when the effects of the cancer burden and different HNC treatment modalities on jawbone composition are studied, in order to reveal ORN pathogenesis.