OBJECTIVE: The vast spread of COVID-19 not only affected the major businesses of the world but also the health care facilities like dentistry. Due to the unprecedented closure of dental services, on-going orthodontic patients also suffered the brunt. The aim of this study was to assess the at-home management approaches used by the patients to tackle the complications associated with orthodontic treatment. METHODOLOGY: It was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study carried out from June 15 to September 15, 2020 in orthodontic OPD of Jinnah Medical and Dental College, Karachi. A total of 300 orthodontic patients, 208 females and 92 males between ages from 15 to 35 years completed a questionnaire on the complications faced by them and management techniques adopted by them during COVID-19 related office closures. Convenient sampling method was used for data collection. RESULTS: The majority of patients reported in this study were females. Approximately 69.33% (n = 300) of the responders were females and 31% were males. The highest numbers of complications reported during the lockdown period were loose brackets, loose bands and poking of archwire. The most common at-home hack used was removing the loose bracket/ bands and cutting of free end of arch wire with nail cutter like instrument. CONCLUSION: It is the responsibility of the clinician to keep in touch with their patients during pandemic like situation through telemedicine portal. In case of emergencies, patients should be provided with an adequate amount of information to tackle any complications with ease and without hurting themselves. KEYWORDS: COVID-19, Pandemic, Orthodontic Emergencies

The purpose of this study was to evaluate reasons of failure for conventional crowns and fixed partial dentures in patients reporting to the Prosthodontics OPD. METHODOLOGY: This cross sectional study was carried out in the Department of Prosthodontics at Jinnah Medical and Dental College, Karachi from December 2018 to September 2019. A total of 149 patients were enrolled in the study using nonprobability, consecutive sampling technique. The demographic data was recorded and patients were examined to assess the cause of failure of fixed dental prosthesis. SPSS version 22 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The mean age of the 149 prosthesis examined was 4.78 ± 4.37 years. Most of the failures 130 (87.2%) were due to biologic causes. Almost all of the patients (98.0%) cleaned their teeth by brushing. The mean life span of the 145 porcelain fused to metal prosthesis examined was 4.89 ± 4.38 years. Most of the failed restorations were single unit with a mean prosthesis age of 4.27 ± 4.26 years while 7 (4.7%) fixed partial dentures had greater than 5 units and had a mean life of 11.6 ± 5.45 years. There was a statistically significant difference in the failure of prosthesis according to its position in the dental arch (p< 0.02) CONCLUSION: Fixed dental prostheses provide one of the best treatment modalities for replacing teeth. At present the average life of prosthesis at 4 years is less than satisfactory. To improve the longevity of these restorations it is necessary to have proper patient selection, diagnosis, treatment planning, clinical and technical skills. It is also essential to educate the patient about proper oral hygiene and prosthesis maintenance so that the life span of fixed prosthesis is increased.

Objective: To determine the frequency of vitamin D deficiency in newly diagnosed patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus.