In clinical practice, xerostomia or oral dryness is a chronic disease condition encountered by most dentists and dental hygienists, which often causes a negative impact on the oral health-related quality of life of the affected individual. Xerostomia is caused due to salivary gland dysfunction. It is related to reduced salivary secretion or the absence of saliva flow, more frequently, exhibits qualitative changes in saliva proteins and immunoglobulin concentrations that arise due to salivary gland dysfunction. This condition causes discomfort and interferes with normal oral activities, and affected individuals are at high caries risk. There are several options for treatment and symptom management: salivary stimulants, topical agents, saliva substitutes, and systemic sialogogues. This review explores the current status of therapeutic management of patients affected by xerostomia and hyposalivation using artificial saliva.

Background: It is a well-known fact that teeth are considered crucial in identification; in edentulous cases, palatal rugae are handy in individual identification. There are evidences proved that there are gender related and geographic variation in palatal rugae pattern. Hence, the purpose of this study was to figure out the role of palatal rugae in differentiation between sexes of Saudi Arabian population. Materials and Methods: A total of 50 maxillary dental stone cast were prepared comprised both male and female samples of same age group, casts were looked for rugae shape such as straight, wavy, curved, unification, and circular and their percentage recorded. Results: The average number of rugae patterns in both sexes in total and the mean values that show no significant differences between both sexes although the number of rugae was slightly higher in male than females in total. Conclusion: This work concludes that rugae patterns can be used as additional method for identification as a personal print and considered a characteristic to discriminate between individuals.

Introduction: Gender-based preferences are common in dental practice and maybe even more prevalent in academic dentistry. A large number of females have been entering the practice of general dentistry for the past two decades. The present study was done to assess dental students' perception of gender preferences in dentistry using a questionnaire in Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: A survey was conducted using a pretested questionnaire among dental interns pursuing their internship at different dental schools in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaires were distributed to 482 interns who were willing to participate in the survey. All the responses were collected, tabulated, and analyzed accordingly using appropriate statistical methods. Results: Four hundred and eighty-two dental interns (180 males and 302 females) responded to the survey. Most female interns (68%) prefer female patients for their treatments to the opposite gender. Seventy-five percent of the male interns felt more capable than females to handle stress and workload associated with branches such as prosthodontics, surgery, and implantology. 52.1% felt that female students fared well in academics. Conclusion: The present study shows that more females are taking up this profession in the current situation. It also shows that females are as competitive as males in dentistry and that most of the dental interns want to take up postgraduation after completion of the course. Both males and females are given equal working space and respect in this field of dentistry.

Background: The use of zinc oxide eugenol (ZOE), along with resin restoration or cementation, is often a debatable topic in dentistry. This systematic review is aimed to explore the effect of ZOE on various properties of resin-based dental materials. Materials and Methods: An electronic research was carried out using the relevant keywords in different search engines such as MEDLINE/PubMed, Ebscohost, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and EMBASE SciFinder based on PRISMA guidelines. Only articles in the English language were included along with other specific inclusion criteria. Results: The entire articles were assessed for the eligibility and final review included 30 studies that were then classified according to the type of test conducted on the resin-based material. Conclusion: There is no consensus on the deleterious effect of ZOE on resin-based dental material. However, all the tests conducted were in vitro and most of them showed a significant reduction in the quality of resin restorative and cement materials when used with ZOE.

Background: Tooth-whitening procedures have gained wide popularity among the Saudi population. The present study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and perception about tooth-whitening procedures among Jeddah's general population. Materials and Methods: A face-to-face interview was conducted on randomly selected female patients attending dental clinics. A pretested and structured questionnaire was used to record the response by calibrated interviewers. The responses regarding knowledge, attitude, and perceptions were recorded and subjected to statistical analysis. Results: The findings showed that the prevalence of tooth whitening among the participants was 43.7%, and about 8.7% reported that they did it once every year. In-office bleaching was the most preferred method (31.4%), followed by whitening toothpaste (8.7%). An increased frequency of bleaching was reported by participants belonging to younger age group ( P < 0.001). Conclusion: The knowledge related to the mechanism of action and adverse effects was average among the participants. Younger age groups were more concerned about tooth-whitening procedures compared to the older ones.