This study’s objectives were to test correlations among groups of biomarkers that are associated with condylar morphology and to apply artificial intelligence to test shape analysis features in a neural network (NN) to stage condylar morphology in temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJOA). Seventeen TMJOA patients (39.9 ± 11.7 y) experiencing signs and symptoms of the disease for less than 10 y and 17 age- and sex-matched control subjects (39.4 ± 15.2 y) completed a questionnaire, had a temporomandibular joint clinical exam, had blood and saliva samples drawn, and had high-resolution cone beam computed tomography scans taken. Serum and salivary levels of 17 inflammatory biomarkers were quantified using protein microarrays. A NN was trained with 259 other condyles to detect and classify the stage of TMJOA and then compared to repeated clinical experts’ classifications. Levels of the salivary biomarkers MMP-3, VE-cadherin, 6Ckine, and PAI-1 were correlated to each other in TMJOA patients and were significantly correlated with condylar morphological variability on the posterior surface of the condyle. In serum, VE-cadherin and VEGF were correlated with one another and with significant morphological variability on the anterior surface of the condyle, while MMP-3 and CXCL16 presented statistically significant associations with variability on the anterior surface, lateral pole, and superior-posterior surface of the condyle. The range of mouth opening variables were the clinical markers with the most significant associations with morphological variability at the medial and lateral condylar poles. The repeated clinician consensus classification had 97.8% agreement on degree of degeneration within 1 group difference. Predictive analytics of the NN’s staging of TMJOA compared to the repeated clinicians’ consensus revealed 73.5% and 91.2% accuracy. This study demonstrated significant correlations among variations in protein expression levels, clinical symptoms, and condylar surface morphology. The results suggest that 3-dimensional variability in TMJOA condylar morphology can be comprehensively phenotyped by the NN.

The results indicated that the majority of transverse changes occurred at the premolar areas, both the first and the second, as well as on the upper and lower dental arches. The intercanine distance increased 0.75 mm, on average, in the upper arch and 1.96 mm in the lower arch. The molars also demonstrated a tendency towards an increase in their transverse dimension, however, at a lower intensity comparing to premolars. All measurements presented statistically significant differences with the exception of the maxillary second molars.

O exame de tomografia computadorizada vem sendo amplamente utilizado na Odontologia, principalmente na área de Implantodontia, com o objetivo de mensurar a altura e a espessura ósseas. A possibilidade de realizar cortes tomográficos individualizados nos fez levantar a hipótese de sua aplicabilidade para medir inclinações e angulações dentárias na Ortodontia, com maior precisão e confiabilidade. O objetivo deste trabalho é descrever uma nova metodologia para a mensuração das inclinações e angulações dentárias, utilizando a tomografia computadorizada volumétrica. Para isso, foram realizados cortes tomográficos dos dentes anteriores, de dois indivíduos, com padrões faciais II e III, respectivamente. Após a avaliação, concluímos que a tomografia computadorizada pode ser um meio útil para avaliação de inclinações e angulações dentárias, possibilitando grande contribuição para as pesquisas envolvendo o posicionamento dentário e também para a individualização do tratamento ortodôntico, uma vez que permite a verificação individual do posicionamento dentário.

ABSTRACT Objectives To investigate the effect of micro-osteoperforation (MOP) on the rate of tooth movement (RTM), space closure duration, and oral health–related quality of life (OHRQoL) during completion of anterior retraction in patients undergoing combined orthodontic-surgical treatment after premolar extraction and decompensation with sliding mechanics. Materials and Methods Twenty-four participants with indications for premolar extractions were randomly allocated to treatment with conventional sliding mechanics (control group; CG) or with to treatment in which three MOPs were performed every activation (experimental group; EG). Dental impressions were taken monthly until space closure was completed and dental casts were converted to three-dimensional models. After the anterior retraction procedure, Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaires were filled out at 4 and 72 hours. Results Eighteen patients (7 men and 11 women) remained in the trial until space closure was completed (mean follow-up period = 247 days). For full space closure RTM, no significant difference (P = .492) was found between groups (0.614 mm/month for the CG; 0.672 mm/month for the EG). The RTM for different time points, groups, time frames and their interaction were statistically different (P < .05). In multiple correlation analysis, the RTM significantly decreased over time for both groups (P < .05). The OHRQoL scores were significantly higher (worse) for the EG. The psychological, physical and social disabilities, and handicap domains displayed significant differences between the two groups. Conclusion Use of MOPs did not change the full space closure RTM, while it had a negative impact on OHRQoL.

Recent studies have demonstrated the difficulties to replicate scientific findings and/or experiments published in past.1 The effects seen in the replicated experiments were smaller than previously reported. Some of the explanations for these findings include the complexity of the experimental design and the pressure on researches to report positive findings. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) suggests that every study considered for publication must submit a plan to share the de-identified patient data no later than 6 months after publication. There is a growing demand to enhance the management of clinical data, facilitate data sharing across institutions and also to keep track of the data from previous experiments. The ultimate goal is to assure the reproducibility of experiments in the future. This paper describes Shiny-tooth, a web based application created to improve clinical data acquisition during the clinical trial; data federation of such data as well as morphological data derived from medical images; Currently, this application is being used to store clinical data from an osteoarthritis (OA) study. This work is submitted to the SPIE Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging conference.