BACKGROUNDSmoking is a serious risk to health globally. Health care professionals play a key role in the prevention of smoking as they are considered a role model by patients.OBJECTIVESThe aims of this study are to evaluate smoking rate among physicians and dentists from Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq, and to understand their knowledge and attitudes toward tobacco smoking.METHODSA cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted involving physicians and dentists working in both University of Sulaimani and Sulaymaniyah Teaching Hospitals. A questionnaire created based on World Health Organization Global Health Professional Survey with slight modifications was emailed to the study participants and the responses received were analyzed.RESULTSIncidence of smoking among physicians and dentists was 26.5%, with a significantly higher rate among male compared to female health care professionals. The mean age of starting smoking was 22.3 (±4.8) years. Only 7.3% of health care professionals received formal training on smoking cessation. All responders agreed that smoking is harmful to health. However, ever smokers compared to never smokers were less likely to agree that health care professionals should set a positive impact by not smoking.CONCLUSIONSmoking rate is high among physicians and dentists from Sulaymaniyah city/Iraq, and at the same time, there is a low rate of training on smoking cessation.

Background/purpose How long do lithium disilicate restorations last before they fail? The aim of this study was to assess the success rate of four different types of restorations made from lithium disilicate. Materials and methods A total of 87,203 ceramic restorations, classified into four different types (inlay or onlay, veneers (Vs), single crowns (SCs), and fixed partial dentures (FPDs)), were used. All were made of lithium disilicate (IPS e.Max CAD) with Cerec Inlab CAD/CAM system (Sirona Dental Systems, Bensheim, Germany). They were reported by dentists and entered in the database of the private B&R Dental Center between March 2015 and June 2020 and assessed retrospectively up to a period of 5 years based on the following parameters: failure rate and cause of failures (ceramic fracture, debonding, marginal adaptation, color match, endodontic intervention, periodontal disease, and secondary caries). Failure distribution according to gender, arch, and teeth type was also evaluated. The time-dependent time-to-failure/complication and their differences were calculated in months according to the Kaplan Meier and log-rank tests. The Chi-squared test (p 0.05) was used to assess the variations in causes of failure rates between different restorations. Results Kaplan Meier test showed overall cumulative survival probability of lithium disilicate restorations for up to years was 85.08%. Inlay/onlay and Vs ceramic restorations showed highest cumulative survival probability (99.4%, 98.6, respectively). FPDs had the least cumulative survival probability (52.9%) which was significantly (P < 0.00001) higher than for other ceramic restorations using the log-rank test. Moreover, overall time-dependent time-to-failure/complication occurred after 52.373 months according to Kaplan–Meier (CI: lower bound: 51.875 months; upper bound: 52.871 months). Ceramic fracture in both FPDs and SCs (27.6% and 26.6%, respectively) and debonding in Vs (12.7%) were significant as the main reasons for failure (P = 0.000). The failure rate was significantly higher for the maxillary arch than the mandibular arch (P = 0.021). Fracture and marginal discrepancy were more frequent in the molar region (77.5% and 14.75%, respectively) and significantly higher here than in the anterior and premolar regions (P = 0.000). Conclusion The medium-term performance of lithium disilicate is ideal. Ceramic fracture was the most common cause of failure in SCs and FPDs. FPDs presented with the highest failure rate based on evaluation for up to 5 years.

Maxillary midline diastema (MMD) is a common aesthetic problem of people seeking orthodontic problem, which means spacing greater than 0.5 mm between the proximal surfaces of maxillary central incisors. The causes for MMD may be: high frenum attachment; microdontia; macrognathia; supernumerary teeth; peg laterals; missing lateral incisors; midline cysts and unhealthy oral habits. Objectives: The purposes of this study were to determine the prevalence of MMD among Shorish dental clinic`s patients seeking orthodontic treatment and to find the factors associated with this anomaly. Materials and Methods: During 6 months, 507 patients with age (13-40) years old attending Shorish Dental Clinic, seeking orthodontic treatment were screened to find the prevalence and etiology of MMD. Result: The MMD was present in 110 patients (21.7%). The frequency of MMD was the same in males and females. It is highest in the young age group and lowest in the older age group (29% vs. 4%). Conclusion: The most frequent factor among the observed etiological factors was oral unhealthy habit which was found in 40% of MMD patients and 8.7% of all cases.

Introduction: This study was performed to assess the root resorption of retained primary teeth having no successors. Methods: According to the selection criteria, 2232 students were diagnosed and selected. The statistical analysis was performed by using a statistical software IBM SPSS version 21. Results: only 83 subjects had retained deciduous teeth (R.D.T) giving percentage of 3.71%. Periapical radiographs were used to assess the resorption of the roots. Furthermore, 126 roots was found in the (95) R.D.T, (66) roots was in males and (60) was in females and all roots have some form of resorption. No significant relationship was observed between different variables (arch, gender, and sides) and the root resorption, (P value =0.138, 0.1258 and 0.176) respectively of P <0.05. Conclusion: Within the limitation of the study, the primary maxillary canine were the most frequently retained deciduous teeth, followed by the mandibular 2 nd primary molar, but the maxillary central incisor and mandibular 1 st molar are the least. Regarding levels of root resorption, the level 1 root resorption was the most frequent 51.6 %, followed by level 2, level 3& level 4 respectively; 23.8%, 14.3% & 10.3%.

Objectives: To determine the amount of fluoride concentration in well water of different places in Sulaimani province, Iraq. Materials and Methods: Twenty-two samples of well water were taken from different areas in Sulaimani Province. The areas are different from the geographical point of view. The water samples were directly taken from the wells pumps. Each sample was filtered through a 0.45 µm and 47 mm diameter membrane filter before analyzing by ion chromatography machine.  The machine had been standardized for fluoride ion by using Dionex seven anion standard to allow the machine is reading fluoride ions within these certain concentrations. Anion identification is based on the comparison of analyte signal peak retention times relative to those of known standards.  Quantitation is accomplished by measuring the peak area and comparing it to a calibration curve generated from known standards. Results: All the 22 samples had shown the very low amount of fluoride concentration. The maximum concentration was 0.157 mg/l, and the minimum concentration was zero mg/l. Conclusion: The fluoride ions in the samples taken from different sources of well water in Sulaimani province had shown concentrations that could not provide any benefits for the purpose of caries prevention.