The esthetic and functional rehabilitation of the patients with palatal defects using obturator poses challenge to the clinician. The use of existing teeth along with implants helps in providing good retention, support, and stability to the prosthesis. Ball-socket type of attachments offer efficient, yet economical alternative to these patients. This case report describes management of a hemimaxillectomy adult patient with a class II palatal defect using tooth implant-supported obturator. Osseointegrated implants and direct overdenture post with ball-socket type of attachments were used to construct a definitive obturator for prosthetic rehabilitation of this patient.

Oral and Maxillofacial region encompasses a wide spectrum of diseases, injuries and defects involving the head, neck, face, jaws and the hard and soft tissues of the oral cavity. Soft tissue injuries, when they occur in isolation or in combination with other injuries, are among the most challenging tasks to manage by the operator. In spite of their high incidence, there are very few studies noted in the literature which systematically elaborates the management of these injuries. This articles aims at emphasizing on the various dressings that can be used in the management of soft tissue injuries of the Oral and Maxillofacial region.

Lasers were introduced into the field of clinical dentistry with the hope of overcoming some of the drawbacks posed by the conventional methods of dental procedures. Since its first experiment for dental application in the 1960s, the use of laser has increased rapidly in the last couple of decades. At present, wide varieties of procedures are carried out using lasers. The aim of this review is to describe the application of lasers in dental hard tissue procedures. Lasers are found to be effective in cavity preparation, caries removal, restoration removal, etching, and treatment of dentinal sensitivity, caries prevention, and bleaching. Based on development in adhesive dentistry and the propagation of minimum intervention principles, lasers may revolutionize cavity design and preparation.

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Most of the physiological processes in the mammals exhibit the circadian rhythms which are guided by endogenous biological clock. This biological clock consists of a central unit which is located in hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and the secondary clocks are located in the peripheral tissues. Circadian rhythms endure 24-hour oscillations of substantial number of the master genes that control the synchronization of varied metabolic and physiological actions within our bodies. This is a very complex regulative network which contributes to an important association between brain and several peripheral tissues as well as organs. The circadian fluctuations of the gene expression are regulated at the molecular level by a family of transcription factors known as "clock genes". The imbalance or dysregulation in the expression of these clock genes can result in the varied human pathological conditions, inclusive of cancer and autoimmune diseases. The evidences are escalating regarding the effect of circadian clock in the tooth development, homeostasis of the oral epithelium, salivary gland and saliva production. The present article summarizes the available knowledge regarding the roles of the clock genes in the genesis as well as perpetuation of the oral tissues, and also mention about the potential association between the "oral clocks" and the diseases like head and neck cancer as well as Sjögren"s syndrome.