Mouthguards contribute to a lower prevalence of dento-alveolar trauma among athletes of contact sports.

Objective. To investigate the efficacy and safety of creatine supplementation in fibromyalgia patients. Methods. A 16-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial was conducted. Fibromyalgia patients were randomly assigned to receive either creatine monohydrate or placebo in a double-blind manner. The patients were evaluated at baseline and after 16 weeks. Muscle function, aerobic conditioning, cognitive function, quality of sleep, quality of life, kidney function, and adverse events were assessed. Muscle phosphorylcreatine content was measured through 31 P magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Results. After the intervention, the creatine group presented higher muscle phosphorylcreatine content when compared with the placebo group (؉80.3% versus ؊2.7%; P ‫؍‬ 0.04). Furthermore, the creatine group presented greater muscle strength than the placebo group in the leg press and chest press exercises (؉9.8% and ؉1.2% for creatine versus ؊0.5% and ؊7.2% for placebo, respectively; P ‫؍‬ 0.02 and P ‫؍‬ 0.002, respectively). Isometric strength was greater in the creatine group than in the placebo group (؉6.4% versus ؊3.2%; P ‫؍‬ 0.007). However, no general changes were observed in aerobic conditioning, pain, cognitive function, quality of sleep, and quality of life. Food intake remained unaltered and no side effects were reported. Conclusion. Creatine supplementation increased intramuscular phosphorylcreatine content and improved lower-and upper-body muscle function, with minor changes in other fibromyalgia features. These findings introduce creatine supplementation as a useful dietary intervention to improve muscle function in fibromyalgia patients.

BackgroundThere is limited evidence on possible associations between social determinants and dental pain. This study investigated the relationship of neighborhood and individual social capital with dental pain in adolescents, adults and the elderly.MethodsA population-based multilevel study was conducted involving 624 subjects from 3 age groups: 15–19, 35–44 and 65–74 years. They were randomly selected from 30 census tracts in three cities in the State of Paraíba, Brazil. A two-stage cluster sampling was used considering census tracts and households as sampling units. The outcome of study was the presence of dental pain in the last 6 months. Information on dental pain, demographic, socio-economic, health-related behaviors, use of dental services, self-perceived oral health and social capital measures was collected through interviews. Participants underwent a clinical examination for assessment of dental caries. Neighborhood social capital was evaluated using aggregated measures of social trust, social control, empowerment, political efficacy and neighborhood safety. Individual social capital assessment included bonding and bridging social capital. Multilevel logistic regression was used to test the relationship of neighborhood and individual social capital with dental pain after sequential adjustment for covariates.ResultsIndividuals living in neighborhoods with high social capital were 52% less likely to report dental pain than those living in neighborhoods with low social capital (OR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.27-0.85). Bonding social capital (positive interaction) was independently associated with dental pain (OR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.80-0.91). Last dental visit, self-perceived oral health and number of decayed teeth were also significantly associated with dental pain.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that contextual and individual social capital are independently associated with dental pain.

Restoring noncarious cervical lesions are challenging to clinical practice. This study aimed to compare the clinical performance/longevity of glass ionomer cements (GIC) and composite resins (CR) used for noncarious cervical lesions (NCCL) through a systematic review and meta-analysis (MA). Data: Randomized and controlled clinical trials and nonrandomized clinical trials, which compared the clinical performance/longevity of CR and GIC (conventional and/or resin-modified) in the treatment of NCCL, were included. Source: The methodological quality and risk of bias were evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration tool. Seven MAs were performed considering (1) the clinical performance of the parameters in common: retention, marginal discoloration, marginal adaptation, secondary caries, color, anatomic form, surface texture and (2) a follow-up time of 12, 24 and 36 months. The prevalence of successful restorations and the total number of restorations per clinical parameter/follow-up time were used to calculate the relative risk (95% CI). Study selection: After screening of the studies, 13 studies were used for quantitative synthesis. The risk difference (CI 95%, α, I 2 ) between GIC and CR for anatomic form was 0.00 (-0.02, 0.02; p ¼ 0.83; 0%); for color was -0.02

This systematic review compared the oral health status between institutionalized and non-institutionalized elders. The following electronic databases were searched: PubMed (Medline), Scopus, Web of Science, Lilacs and Cochrane Library, in a comprehensive and unrestricted manner. Electronic searches retrieved 1687 articles, which were analyzed with regards to respective eligibility criteria. After reading titles and abstracts, five studies were included and analyzed with respect their methodological quality. Oral status of institutionalized and non-institutionalized elderly was compared through meta-analysis. Included articles involved a cross-sectional design, which investigated 1936 individuals aged 60 years and over, being 999 Institutionalized and 937 non-institutionalized elders. Studies have investigated the prevalence of edentulous individuals, the dental caries experience and the periodontal status. Meta-analysis revealed that institutionalized elderly have greater prevalence of edentulous (OR = 2.28, 95%CI = 1.68-3.07) and higher number of decayed teeth (MD = 0.88, 95%CI = 0.71-1.05) and missed teeth (MD = 4.58, 95%CI = 1.89-7.27). Poor periodontal status did not differ significantly between groups. Compared to non-institutionalized, institutionalized elders have worse dental caries experience.