No abstract

Dental and dental hygiene students must acquire the skill of measuring periodontal pockets and learn to identify the bottom of a pocket, especially of deep periodontal pockets. A new dental model that would enable students to practice measuring deep periodontal pockets was developed at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of this model. Twenty dental hygiene students in their third year at the school and twenty-four instructors or dental hygienists of the University Hospital measured periodontal pockets on the newly designed dental model. Feasibility and effectiveness of the model were evaluated based on periodontal probing by the students and instructors, as well as results of a questionnaire. The results demonstrated an intraexaminer agreement (within ±1 mm) averaging 91 percent. The mean percentages of correct answers of the students and instructors were 82 percent and 80 percent, respectively. More than 90 percent of the instructors and students reported that the new model would be suitable for pocket probing training. In the questionnaire, they responded that this practice using the new model would contribute to students' future and that they wanted to try other dental models with various probing depths. The new dental model designed for periodontal pocket probing training was reported to be feasible and effective for student practice.

No abstract

Objective: Episil® is a bioadhesive barrier-forming oral liquid gel that has been used in recent years to relieve pain at the onset of oral mucositis (OM) associated with radiotherapy (RT) or chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). We retrospectively analyzed the clinical effect of Episil® on OM in patients with HNC who underwent RT or CRT. Patients and Methods: A total of 65 patients with HNC were treated with RT or CRT at our hospital between June 2018 and May 2020. Among the 65 tumors, 64 were histologically confirmed as squamous cell carcinomas, and one malignant lymphoma. Results: The median total RT dose was 50 Gy (range, 30–70 Gy) and the completion rate of RT was 63/65 (97%). The median time to OM resolution was 47 (6–90) days and was significantly longer (53 [27–90] days) when the total RT dose was ³51 Gy (p<0.001). Episil® was used in 26 patients; among them, 10 of whom discontinued its use due to several factors including ineffective pain relief, usage difficulties, and taste intolerance. The median duration of use was 30 (1–52) days and was significantly longer (34.5 [10–52] days) (p<0.001) when patients experienced pain relief at treatment initiation. Conclusion: Although Episil® has been shown to be effective in improving the pain of OM caused by RT of HNC patients. Episil® needs to be improved, and medical professionals are required to give careful attention to each individual patient.