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Objective: To test the null hypothesis that there are no correlations between the morphology of the upper jaw, the position of the upper incisors, and facial type. Materials and Methods: From a sample of 191 patients, the FMA angle was used to select 20 short face type, 20 norm face type, and 20 long face type patients, aged 12 to 40 years. Using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), tomography was carried out on sagittal sections corresponding to the four upper incisors. Some parameters defining the dentoskeletal relationships, the alveolar thickness, the alveolar height, and the dental movement were measured. The measurements were processed using analysis of variance and Tukey's test. Results: At the upper central incisors, short face type patients presented a greater alveolar bone thickness than long face type patients. In short face type and norm face type subjects the root apex of the upper incisors was farther away from the lingual cortex than in the long face type patients. At the central incisors the alveolar thickness was greater and the lingual cortex was higher with respect to the lateral incisors in all three facial types. Conclusion: At the upper incisors, facial type is statistically significantly correlated with both alveolar bone thickness and distance between the root apex and lingual cortex. (Angle Orthod. 2009;79:692-702.)

The aim of this study is an evaluation of the Italian dentists’ knowledge regarding COVID-19 and their perception of the risks associated with COVID-19, their attitude in resuming their activities, and how they judge the institutional intervention on a health and economic basis. Methods: This research evaluated Italian dentists from 11 to 18 April 2020, using a questionnaire submitted via Google Forms (Alphabet, Mountain View, CA, USA). It consisted of different investigations about sociodemographic aspects, profession-related characteristics, knowledge about COVID-19 infection transmission modalities, symptoms, and attitude in treating potentially infected patients. Statistical analysis was performed using the Pearson chi2 test and Student t-test. The α-level was fixed at p = 0.05. All data were analyzed with STATA 16 (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA). Results: 1500 dentists (664 men and 836 women) completed the questionnaire. The majority of respondents declared having been trained in infection prevention procedures (64.3%) but not specifically to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (48.7%). A total of 57.2% declared that they were not trained sufficiently to restart working after lockdown, with a significantly higher prevalence (Pearson chi2 test, p < 0.001) among women (62.3%) than men (50.9%). Conclusion: Italian dentists were informed correctly on the mode of transmission but partially missed COVID-19 symptoms. Dentists considered the virus infection highly dangerous, and they were not confident in being able to work safely. The lack of precise operating guidelines creates uncertainties on infection control measures and appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) use. The participants revealed apprehension for their health and the current and future economic situation of their practices.

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BackgroundThe congenital absence of one or more teeth is a dental anomaly that frequently occurs in the world’s population with a wide variability of distribution. The aim of this study is to assess the current prevalence of dental agenesis in the permanent dentition (excluding third molars) using a sample of Italian orthodontic patients.MethodsPanoramic radiographs of 4006 Caucasian children between 9 and 16 years of age (1865 males and 2141 females) performed over a 5-year period (from 2010 to 2015) were carefully examined to identify congenital missing teeth. A chi-square test was used to determine the difference in the prevalence of hypodontia between genders and between arches.ResultsThe prevalence of dental agenesis was 9% (9.1% for females and 8.7% for males). The most common congenitally missing teeth were the mandibular second premolars (20.3 and 18.1%) followed by the upper lateral incisors (17.8 and 17.7%) and the maxillary second premolars (7.4 and 6.3%). The absence of one tooth to five teeth was observed in 344 patients (8.6%), while 15 patients showed from six to nine missing teeth (0.4%). The analysis showed 363 cases of agenesis in the upper arch (0.64%) and 339 in the lower arch (0.60%). Unilateral (4.6%) and bilateral (4.4%) agenesis demonstrated a similar frequency. The most common bilateral missing teeth were the mandibular second premolars (1.9%) and the maxillary lateral incisors (1.6%).ConclusionsThe results of this study observed a higher prevalence of hypodontia compared to previous studies conducted on the Italian population. Thus, a detailed and careful radiographic examination was important in diagnosing one or more missing teeth. This could help plan the best possible treatments, both esthetically and functionally, for these patients.