The dentist's preoccupation concerning the phonetic rehabilitation of the edentulous patient emanates from the practical findings about the consonant alteration during the speech process. The aim of this study was to assess the phonetic alterations in complete denture wearers caused by position, size and material (resin or ceramics) of the frontal artificial teeth. This was performed using the static palatographies and spectrograms, which evaluated the most important spaces for the phonetic modulation, in relation to various settings of the artificial teeth

In this paper, the most adequate quantitative parameters are sought that reflect the dependence of speech sound distortions on the correct position of dental mountings. We suggest the Hurst fractal exponent and some parameters calculated from the Paul wavelet transform of speech sound are useful as quantitative parameters. The investigations are focussed on the alterations of the first /s/ phoneme when the patient produces the Sisyphe sound. The results will be useful to obtain a rigorous, computer assisted method to establish (design) the optimal parameters of prosthetic mounts in order to ensure best speech quality.

No abstract

In the Romanian population, during the fixed orthodontic treatment, sometimes appear white spot lesions (WSLs). These are areas of demineralized enamel witch untreated lead to the formation of cavited carious lesions. Until now the therapy of choice for such lesions was fluoridation that proved itself inadequate in terms of aesthetics. The innovative solution of the German Firma DMG (Icon®) proposes the filling and reinforcing of the pore system of a WSL with a light-curable resin (Icon-Infiltrant). The purpose of this study was to assess whether the optical coherence tomography (OCT) can evaluate, in vitro, by en face scans the penetration of this advanced new material into natural enamel caries. We applied the classic therapeutic procedures proposed by the German company. After infiltration of the WSL we observed a deep resin penetration. Clinically there was a significant improvement in the aesthetics of the affected tooth surfaces and their evolution was stopped demonstrating that this technique is effective in the therapy of WSLs at patients with fixed orthodontic therapy. Also OCT proved to be a reliable technique for acquiring images of resin infiltrated WSLs recommending this technology for further fundamental studies in the field.

The method of laser micro spectral analysis is a method of punctual method of analysis, which permits to investigate small quantity of material, around 0.1 µg. This method permits to establish the content of atoms and molecules. The method permits to make semi-quantitative and quantitative analysis. By this method it is possible to establish trace elements, with concentration of order ppm (parts per million). For atomic UV spectral analysis, intense spectra are produced by the transitions of the metals. The halogens have poor spectra in the UV region. The method is low cost and can be made also with devices adapted for this kind of measurement. By this method we established the curves of concentration distribution for Ca, Mg, P and Zn. These distributions are different of the direction amalgam-nerve duct and on a perpendicular direction to the direction amalgam-nerve duct. We must underline that the method of laser micro spectral analysis gives the possibility to measure the infiltration of due substances in the porous regions of filled tooth.