Botulinum Toxin (BT) is a natural molecule produced during growth and autolysis of bacterium called Clostridium botulinum. Use of BT for cosmetic purposes has gained popularity over past two decades, and recently, other therapeutic uses of BT has been extensively studied. BT is considered as a minimally invasive agent that can be used in the treatment of various orofacial disorders and improving the quality of life in such patients. The objective of this article is to review the nature, mechanism of action of BT, and its application in various head and neck diseases.

Stem cell research has received considerable attention since the discovery that adult stem cells have the capacity to form many different tissue types. Stem cells are a booming field for the research and have been extensively studied in the field of medicine, as well as dentistry. Their application in oncology has been a boon to many of the patients. Dental stem cells have been novel approach to treat diseases like periodontitis, dental caries and many more. Their potential uses in dentistry have provided a new generation of treatments for dental diseases and stem cells have become the focus in dental research. This review highlights about the biology, sources and potential applications of stem cells in dentistry with emphasis on a dentist's role in enabling both medical and dental applications using stem cells from teeth.

This paper intends to highlight the different types of oncolytic viruses (OVs), mechanism of tumor specificity, its safety, and various obstacles in the design of treatment and combination therapy utilizing oncotherapy. Search was conducted using the internet-based search engines and scholarly bibliographic databases with key words such as OVs, head and neck cancer, viruses, oral squamous cell carcinoma, and gene therapy. Revolutionary technologies in the field of cancer treatment have gone through a series changes leading to the development of innovative therapeutic strategies. Oncolytic virotherapy is one such therapeutic approach that has awaited phase III clinical trial validation. OVs are self-replicating, tumor selective and lyse cancer cells following viral infection. By modifying the viral genome, it is possible to direct their toxicity toward cancer cells. Viruses that are used for treatment of head and neck cancer are either naturally occurring or genetically modified. OVs are tumor selective and potential anticancer agents. Virotherapy may become the standard of care and part of combination therapy in the management of head and neck cancer in the future.

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Hundred Fusarium culmorum strains, isolated from freshly harvested maize grain samples from Southern parts of India, were incubated in czapek-dox medium and analyzed for trichothecene (DON/NIV) production. The mPCR assay was standardized targeting trichothecene metabolic pathway genes viz., Tri6, Tri7, Tri13 for detection of trichothecene (DON/NIV) chemotypes and rDNA gene for specific detection of F. culmorum species. Primers for targeted genes were designed and used to predict whether these isolates could produce deoxynivalenol/nivalenol, 94 isolates were able to produce DON/NIV by mPCR assay. Chemical analysis of DON/NIV was carried out for mPCR positive isolates by high performance-thin layer chromatography (HPTLC). To check the practical usefulness of developed mPCR assay, 150 field samples of maize were evaluated and results were compared with conventional HPTLC method. Out of 150 samples, 34% samples stayed as a positive for NIV contamination whereas 44% were found to have deoxynivalenol contamination. Moreover, mPCR results are equivocally matched with the HPTLC chemical analysis for field samples. Chemotyping of F. culmorum isolates were reported for the first time from India, and highlights the important potential of F. culmorum to contaminate maize with DON/NIV.