Objectives: Treatment of asymptomatic necrotic teeth is a common type of occurrence in endodontic practice. Root canal treatment of these teeth sometimes results in pain and /or swelling of varying degree. These severe symptoms upset both the patient and dentist. This study was to compare the effect of prophylactic amoxicillin and placebo in endodontic flare-up in asymptomatic necrotic teeth requiring root canal treatment. This was evaluated by using flare-up index. The influence of age, sex, was compared between flare-up and non-flare-up groups. Using a standardized technique and the same materials eliminated the variability of operator. Study Design: Quasi experimental study. Setting: Department of Operative Dentistry, Lahore Medical and Dental College, Lahore. Period: From January 2018 to December 2018. Material & Methods: 102 patients with asymptomatic necrotic teeth with periapical radiolucency were selected from the Operative Dentistry Department of Lahore Medical and Dental College. Patients were divided into two groups experimental and control, by convenient sampling. One half of the patients were given prophylactic amoxicillin and other half was given placebo one hour before treatment. Results: Flare-up occurred in four of the experimental and seven of the control group patients. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences between flare-up and non- flare- up patients for age and sex. The data outcome was of qualitative in nature i.e. pain and swelling, they were subjected to Chi-Square test of significance with P value of £0.05. The results demonstrated that 10.8% of the 102 patients had a flare-up. No side effects were observed in the patients who were prescribed amoxicillin. Conclusion: The occurrence of flare-up did not significantly influence by Prophylactic amoxicillin (P= .33).

Aim: To investigate the comparison between teacher centered and Student centered medical education approach among multiple medical and dental institutes of Lahore. Methods: A thorough investigation was done by collecting data on results of students given Teacher centered medical education and Student centered medical education. Students of each class were divided into 5 groups and given tasks of presenting on given topics and individual students’ participation was encouraged in each group. Results: The results of teacher centered teaching showed that 20% of class scored above 80% marks. 78% of class scored between 60% and 80% marks and 2% scored less than 60% marks. On the other hand the student centered presentation had an excellent outcome where 100% of students scored more than 80% marks, out of which 60% scored more than 90%. Conclusion: It is concluded that Students’ performance in student centered medical education was higher than that in teacher centered education. This teaching technique was seen to be better retentive because of active participation of students. MeSH Words: Medical Education, Self-centered learning, Student centered learning, teacher centered learning.

Background: Oral health is one of the key indicators of the quality of life, overall health and well‑being of the general population. Globally, the high prevalence of the periodontal disease, excessive tooth loss, dental caries experiences, oral cancers and xerostomia are the major issues reported among adult populations. Timely access to oral healthcare facilities preserves the function, morbidity and mortality. The best possible health outcomes are only possible if the personal health care services are accessible timely. So, the primary objective of this study was to explore the barriers to the access of oral health care facilities among adults. In addition, the study also determined the association between adult’s demographic factors and their visits to dental clinics.  Subjects and methods: This exploratory study was conducted for two months between November 2019 and January 2020. The study recruited 400 adults including 200 males and 200 females visiting outpatient department (OPD) of public hospital i.e. Jinnah Hospital, Lahore. Participants were included in this study if they were 18 years of age or older and had provided written informed consent before data collection. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire whereas barriers to access the oral healthcare facilities was confirmed by asking an open-ended question. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to calculate descriptive statistics (i.e., mean, standard deviation, percentages). The study also determined the association between sociodemographic factors of adults and their tendency to visit dental clinics just for routine checkups using the chi-square test. Results: The average age of the participants was 36.81±9.29 years ranged from 18 – 63 years. Of the 400 participants, 259 (64.75%) reported costly treatment as a barrier affecting access to oral healthcare facilities followed by difficulty in access to dental clinics (27.75%) and fear of the pain of dental procedures (20.25%). Only 52 (13%) adults were regularly visiting dental clinics for routine check-ups whereas 21 (5.25%) respondents never had been to the dentist throughout their life. Nearly, half of the respondents i.e. 189 (47.25%) stated that dental care expenditures were borne by them and none of them was health insured. Statistically, a significant association was found between demographics (i.e. education, rural background and income) and the tendency to visit the dental clinics (p<0.05). Conclusion: Expensive treatment, difficulty in accessing dental facilities and fear from dental procedures are the major barriers to the utilization of dental services. Access to dental clinics for routine check-ups is significantly influenced by sociodemographic factors.

COVID-19 is causing multiple psychological problems directly influencing the ability of learning among students. Objectives: To investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on medical education and to explore the influence of different predictors of educational difficulties and poor academic performance. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Multan Medical & Dental College, Multan, over a period of one month. Through convenient purposive sampling, all the enrolled students from all specialties who agreed to fill the online survey questionnaire voluntarily were included. A self-developed, reliable and validated research instrument was used as a data collection tool to inquire about the demographic details, psychological predictors and educational difficulties. Results: A positive and significant correlation was observed between the psychological distress due to COVID-19 and students’ educational learning difficulties in medical setting. It was found that depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (p≤0.05) significantly influenced the students’ education and learning but anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder had no significant impact. Females and students with psychiatric history showed higher level of psychological distress and educational difficulties as compared to males and students without psychiatric history. Conclusions: COVID-19 pandemic has tremendously affected the medical education as strong positive correlation has been observed between psychological predictors and students’ educational learning difficulties. However, during this pandemic learning hazard were more significantly perceived in students with depression and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Background/Aim: Root canal treatment (RCT) is one of the most common endodontic procedures for which patients visit the dentist. Patient's knowledge, awareness, and attitude regarding root canal treatment are an interesting problem in everyday dentistry. Therefore, the study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, awareness, and attitude of patients coming for endodontic treatment. Methods: Questionnaire surveys were carried out in a group of 209 patients, including queries characterizing their knowledge, awareness, and attitude towards the RCT - their experiences, expectations, potential problems, and management expenses. Results: Exploring the knowledge of individuals? concerning RCT, it was noticed that 51% of the surveyed patients in the past had experienced endodontics treatment. 52% of participants reported that they know the charges of the RCT, 50% of them said that the price was sufficient to the difficulty of the process. The study confirmed that a large number of people still prefer specialists to perform the RCT (47%). Conclusion: An enhancement of knowledge and awareness of people about the RCT has been observed, as well as a need of providing more information to patients about endodontics and benefits of saving teeth.