Objective:Green tea extract (GTE) was shown to be effective in preserving periodontal ligament fibroblasts (PDLFs) of avulsed teeth. This study aimed at determining the potential of GTE in preserving the viability of PDLFs comparing with different storage media.Materials and Methods:Periodontal ligament cells were obtained from freshly extracted healthy impacted third molars and cultured in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM). Cell viability was determined by storing the cells in seven media; DMEM, tap water, Hank's balanced salt solution (HBSS), whole milk, hypotonic sucrose solution, GTE, and GTE + sucrose for 1, 2, 4, and 24 h at 37°C using tetrazolium salt-based colorimetric (3-[4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay. Statistical analysis was performed by one-way analysis of variance and post hoc tests.Results:GTE showed significantly higher protective effect than HBSS at 2, 4, and 24 h (P = 0.009, P = 0.02, P = 0.016), DMED at 2 h (P = 0.003), and milk at 4 h (P = 0.039).Conclusion:Although with undesirable osmolality and pH, GTE had a good ability in preserving the PDLFs comparing with other studied media.

Oxidative stress may play an important role in the onset and development of oral inflammatory and dental decay diseases. The aim of this study was to compare total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels in the unstimulated whole saliva of children with severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) and caries-free children. In this case-control study, 80 children aged 3-5 years from nursery schools in Babol, northern Iran were the subjects of the study. The S-ECC group contained 40 children with dmfs ≥4 (age 3), ≥5 (age 4) or ≥6 (age 5) and the control group contained 40 caries-free children (dmfs = 0). Out of consideration for growth pattern and general health, the clinical examinations of the chosen children were conducted by a physician. These two groups were age and sex matched. TAC was measured by the FRAP (ferric-reducing antioxidant power) method and total protein in unstimulated whole saliva was evaluated spectrophotometrically. According to the normal distribution of data, statistical tests including the t test and Pearson's correlation test were used; p < 0.05 was considered significant in the difference between the two groups. TAC levels and salivary total protein increased in children with S-ECC compared with caries-free children (p = 0.025 and p = 0.033, respectively). Moreover, salivary TAC showed a significant positive correlation with total protein concentration and dmfs in the S-ECC group (p < 0.001, r = 0.685 and r = 0.902, respectively). The significant increment of salivary TAC in S-ECC may represent a compensatory mechanism against oxidative stress in S-ECC.

Introduction: Identifying and employing students' learning styles could play an important role in selecting appropriate teaching methods in order to improve education. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the students' final exam scores and the learning style preferences of dental students at Babol University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 88 dental students studying in their fourth, fifth, and sixth years using the visual-aural-reading/writing-kinesthetic (VARK) learning styles' questionnaire. The data were analyzed with IBM SPSS, version 21, using the chi-squared test and the t-test. Results: Of the 88 participants who responded to the questionnaire, 87 preferred multimodal learning styles. There was no significant difference between the mean of the final exam scores in students who did and did not prefer the aural learning style (p = 0.86), the reading/writing learning style (p = 0.20), and the kinesthetic learning style (p = 0.32). In addition, there was no significant difference between the scores on the final clinical course among the students who had different preferences for learning style. However, there was a significant difference between the mean of the final exam scores in students with and without visual learning style preference (p = 0.03), with the former having higher mean scores. There was no significant relationship between preferred learning styles and gender (p > 0.05). Conclusion:The majority of dental students preferred multimodal learning styles, and there was a significant difference between the mean of the final exam scores for students with and without a preference for the visual learning style. In addition, there were no differences in the preferred learning styles between male and female students.

IntroductionOral and dental health is one of the most important factors that affect the quality of life of preschool children. This study determined the effect of oral and dental health of preschoolers on their quality of life and that of their parents.MethodsThis descriptive-cross sectional study asked 304 mothers of children aged 2–5 years from Babol, Iran, to complete an Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) questionnaire. Higher raw scores for ECOHIS indicate more oral problems and lower quality of life as related to oral health. The demographic information and dmft indices of the children were documented. The data were analyzed using the independent sample t-test, one way ANOVA, and the Scheffe post hoc test.ResultsThe mean ECOHIS score was 6.65 ± 3.57, and the mean score of “decay, missing and filling teeth” (dmft) was 4.39 ± 3.68. A high correlation (r = 0.725) was observed between the dmft score and the ECOHIS score (p < 0.001).ConclusionThe oral and dental health of the children strongly influenced their quality of life and that of their parents. There was an inverse relationship between dmft and oral health-related quality of life.

The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of dental caries in three to four-year-old children born pre-term and with a low birth weight (PLBW) to be compared with normal birth-weight children (NBW) and further to investigate the impact of relative risk factors on the development of dental caries in primary teeth. Methods and Materials: This cross-sectional case-control study was conducted on 90 children (45 PLBW and 45 NBW). The demographic data and information about feeding practices was ascertained using a structured questionnaire. Dental caries status (dmft) was determined, and the differences between the two groups were tested using the Fisher's exact and the Mann-Whitney U tests at a confidence level of 5%. Results: Twenty-five children (eight PLBW and 17 NBW) were caries free, and the mean±SD dmft was 2.5±0.3 in PLBW and 2.2±0.4 in NBW children (p>0.05). The length of feeding in PLBW children was lower than the NBW group (p>0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of dental caries did not differ between the PLBW and NBW children. Clinical Significance: Enamel hypoplasia and snacking were not common in PLBW children which may account for the lack of difference in dental caries between the two groups.