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Background/purpose In Japan, medical and dental care is provided by the universal health insurance system. The Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW) in Japan sets the rules for health care services provided by health insurance. The MHLW issued a notice in 2020 permitting telemedicine and dental telemedicine for the first visit and for follow-up visits to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection. We conducted this study to clarify the status of dental telemedicine during 2020. Materials and methods We used data from lists obtained on the MHLW website in the analysis. We investigated the number of dental institutions conducing dental telemedicine for the first visit and for follow-up visits by prefecture. Results In each prefecture, fewer dental institutions conducted telemedicine for the first visit than for follow-up visits. Regions with large metropolitan areas had higher numbers of dental institutions conducting dental telemedicine for the first visit and follow-up visits. Private dental clinics provided the largest proportion of dental telemedicine for the first visit, and general hospitals provided the largest proportion for follow-up visits. Conclusion Our study findings indicated that many dental institutions in Japan made efforts to provide dental services via dental telemedicine using the telephone or online with video to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection. Dental telemedicine can help patients to access dental services and dental care, thereby expanding the potential of dental telemedicine in Japan.

Soluble tumor necrosis factor receptors 1 and 2 (sTNF-R1 and sTNF-R2) are reported to protect against excessive TNF-α, a primary mediator of systemic responses to infection. This study aimed to investigate the levels of TNF-α, sTNF-R1, and sTNF-R2 in saliva and to verify whether their dynamics are associated with periodontal health. The study population comprised 28 adult patients. Probing pocket depth, clinical attachment level, and bleeding on probing were assessed, and periodontal inflamed surface area (PISA) was calculated. Stimulated saliva was collected before the oral examinations. The levels of TNF-α, sTNF-R1, sTNF-R2, and total protein (TP) in saliva samples were determined. There were significant positive correlations between TNF-α, sTNF-R1, and sTNF-R2 to TP (/TP) in stimulated saliva. Moreover, there were significant positive correlations between PISA and sTNF-R2/TP. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that PISA was significantly associated with sTNF-R2/TP in saliva; however, TNF-α/TP was not significantly associated with PISA. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that significant relationships exist between the salivary levels of TNF-α and sTNF-R1, and that salivary sTNF-R2 is associated with the expansion of inflamed periodontal tissue.

Enhanced-oxidation of 4H-SiC and interface modification with BaO2 was investigated. The enhanced oxidation of 4H-SiC was drastically dependent on pre-deposited BaO2 thickness. At the oxidation time of 300 min, oxide thicknesses for BaO2 of 2.8 nm and 7.8 nm were 91.8 nm and 26.2 nm, respectively. The physical state of Ba in the oxide was investigated by XPS and 2D-GIXD. At thick BaO2 with a thickness of over 6.4 nm, bridged oxygen and non-bridged oxygen were observed in O1s state. This results shows barium silicate was formed in SiO2 at BaO2 thickness of over 6.4 nm.

：Patients respond in different ways to initial periodontal treatment, and it is difficult to predict the response for each patient.The purpose of this study was to determine the parameters influencing the response by constructing a model to predict the response based on the periodontal parameters at initial examination.Twenty informed and consenting patients with generalized chronic periodontitis were recruited into this study.Periodontal clinical parameters were measured at the initial examination and at each step after treatment.A paired t-test showed that : 1) the probing pocket depth (PPD) significantly decreased after supragingival scaling and pocket irrigation; 2) the PPD significantly decreased compared with the initial PPD after initial periodontal treatment; and 3) the probing attachment level (PAL) significantly decreased after supragingival scaling and pocket irrigation.Multiple stepwise regression analysis was performed to rank the effect of parameters influencing the decrease in the PPD or PAL, demonstrating that two parameters at initial examination, namely PPD and tooth mobility, significantly influenced the decrease in the PPD after initial periodontal treatment.The result indicated that deeper initial PPD and smaller tooth mobility is associated with a greater decrease in the PPD after initial periodontal treatment.In addition, the influence of the degree of tooth mobility was about half that of the initial PPD.The present study demonstrated for the first time that initial tooth mobility negatively influenced the decrease in PPD after initial periodontal treatment, even when taking the effect of the initial PPD into consideration. Nihon Shishubyo Gakkai Kaishi (J Jpn Soc Periodontol) 51(1)：27-37，2009.