No abstract

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the levels of salivary uric acid and arginase in patients with periodontitis, generalized gingivitis, and in healthy individuals. Then, the effects of non-surgical periodontal therapy on levels of salivary arginase and uric acid were also investigated. Methods: A total of 60 subjects were divided into three groups based on periodontal health: group I comprised 20 healthy individuals; group II comprised 20 subjects who had generalized gingivitis; group III comprised 20 subjects who had generalized periodontitis. On day 0, the clinical examination of periodontal status was recorded, following which saliva samples were collected. Group II and group III subjects underwent non-surgical periodontal therapy. These patients were recalled on day 30 to collect saliva samples. The periodontal parameters were reassessed on day 90, and saliva samples were collected for analysis of salivary arginase and uric acid levels. Results: Group II and group III showed improvement in clinical parameters following non-surgical periodontal therapy on the 90th day. The MGI score, PPD, and CAL showed improvement. On day 0, at baseline, salivary arginase levels in group III and group II were higher than those in healthy subjects, whereas on day 0, salivary uric acid levels in group III and group II were lower than those in healthy subjects. Both on day 0 and day 90, the salivary arginase level showed a positive correlation with the periodontal parameters, whereas the salivary uric acid level was positively correlated with the periodontal parameters on day 90. Conclusion: the level of salivary arginase was a pro-inflammatory marker and a raised level of salivary uric acid was an anti-inflammatory marker following periodontal therapy, suggesting their pivotal role in assessing periodontal status and evaluation of treatment outcome.

Introduction:Despite the availability of a wide variety of pharmacological agents in the field of anesthesia, there has always been a continuous search for newer local anesthetic agents with improved efficacy, potency, and better handling properties. Dexmedetomidine, a selective alpha-2 adrenergic receptor agonist, is an emerging agent for provision of additive local anesthetic effect if used with conventional local anesthetics, which can be implicated in dentistry for performing many minor oral surgical procedures. The present paper reports a pilot study comparing clinical efficacy and potency of this newer emerging drug in combination with lignocaine.Materials and Methods:Ten patients undergoing orthodontic extraction for correction of malocclusion and other dentofacial deformities requiring orthodontic treatment were locally infiltrated with 2% lignocaine plus dexmedetomidine 1μ/ml and 2% lignocaine plus adrenaline in 1:200,000 dilution at two different appointments. The onset of action, duration of action, and pain threshold were assessed.Results:Onset of action was found to be faster with longer duration of action with the newer drug dexmedetomidine and lignocaine combination when compared with combination of lignocaine and adrenaline.Conclusion:The study demonstrated that the combination of dexmedetomidine with lignocaine enhances the local anesthetic potency of lignocaine without significant systemic effects when locally injected into oral mucosa.

Personal identification is of prime importance for forensic and medicolegal purposes especially in case of natural calamities, accidents, state of unconsciousness, or loss of memory. The denture labeling is an important method which has been acknowledged by the field of dentistry. Various denture labeling techniques have been advocated but none of them is universal. Aadhaar is the instantly verifiable national identification number assigned to residents of India, which is currently being used vastly by the Government of India. The article describes a simple, economical, and permanent method for inclusion of Unique Identification Number and bar code in dentures.

Introduction Despite the availability of wide variety of pharmacological agents for dental procedural sedation, there has always been a continuous search for newer sedative agents. Dexmedetomidine is a newer sedative agent for provision of short-term sedation (\24 h) in adult patients in the intensive care unit setting. It is a selective a 2 adrenergic receptor agonist. The reports on off-label use of this drug in a variety of settings for invasive and non invasive procedural sedation have provided encouraging results. Material and methods The present paper reports a pilot study observing clinical efficacy of the newer drug dexmedetomidine in patients undergoing office based sliding genioplasty for correction of facial asymmetry. Subjects were sedated with dexmedetomidine with a loading dose of 0.5 mcg/kg over 10 min followed by a continuous infusion dose of 0.1 mcg/kg/h, the recovery process was observed for 60 min after the dexmedetomidine infusion was stopped. The patients were observed pre operatively, intra operatively (every 10 min) and postoperatively for the following parameters-oxygen saturation (SpO 2 ), mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), and Ramsay sedation score (RSS), respiratory rate, pain scale.