Common irrigants used by pediatric dentists for permanent molar root canal therapy Maintenance of the deciduous teeth before exfoliation is necessary. The two most common oral diseases are caries and periodontal disease, and they often begin in childhood. Root canal treatment is the best treatment of choice for extensively carious teeth. Endodontic therapy with proper biomechanical preparation, irrigation, and obturation helps in removing the bacterial biofilm and preventing the loss of primary carious teeth. To effectively clean and disinfect the root canal, remove the smear layer, and irrigants are necessary. The main objective of the present study is to know the common irrigants used by pediatric dentists for permanent molar root canal therapy.All the cases reported in Jun 2019 to Mar 2020 for permanent molar RCT in pediatric patients, was chosen for the study. Information was collected from the dental hospital management system, and the result data was tabulated in excel and imported to SPSS for correlation and association. P<0.05 was considered to be the level of statistical significance in this study. The result - Within the limits of the present study the results obtained are, saline is the most preferred root canal irrigant in both single(53%) and multi-visit RCT(63%) with female preference in single visit RCT and equal gender preference of saline in multi-visit RCT and most commonly preferred in the age group of 11 to 14 years in both single and multi-visit root canal therapy. The knowledge about the proper choice of root canal irrigant will help in the canal disinfection and paves the way for the success of endodontic therapy.

Mandibular first molars are amongst the most common teeth requiring endodontic treatment due to their early emergence in the oral cavity and subsequent caries. Proper knowledge  and understanding of the root canal morphology and anatomy of mandibular first molars, will help the clinician  in developing a proper and standard treatment protocol  by predicting possible variations that potentially challenge the treatment outcome. The main objective of the present study was to know the prevalence of canal variations in mandibular 1st molar among the South Indian population and its association with age and gender. All the patients who reported during June 2019 to March 2020 for mandibular 1st molar endodontic therapy were chosen for the study. Information was collected from the dental hospital record system and the resulting data was tabulated in excel and imported to SPSS for correlation and association. Within the limits of the study, the results obtained are: prevalence of canal variations is 7.6% and 2.2% in single and multi visit root canal treatment respectively with a higher incidence among the male patients and it is primarily seen in the age group of 21 to 40 years.  This knowledge about the canal variations in the South Indian population will be helpful to the clinician to look for any unusual anatomy while performing endodontic therapy which will prevent any unwanted procedural errors. It necessitates the careful negotiation and cleaning of all accessible canal spaces.

Tobacco is one of the most widely distributed and commonly used addictive substances. Tobacco can be consumed through the mouth in a variety of forms, varying from smoking to smokeless tobacco chewing on itself. It leads to various life threatening consequences like oral cancer, lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases. In the oral cavity, it mainly affects the periodontium giving rise to gingivitis and periodontitis leading to alveolar bone damage and tooth loss. The aim of this study is to compare the gingival, periodontal health and plaque status in smokers and smokeless tobacco users. A hospital based cross sectional study was conducted among 100 patients including 50 smokers and 50 smokeless tobacco users visiting the out patient department of a private Dental College. The data was obtained by questionnaire based history taking followed by the clinical examination of the relevant parameters. The result data was tabulated in excel and imported to SPSS for further analysis. Chi square tests were done for statistical analysis. There were 4%, 3% of smokers and smokeless tobacco users reported with high probing depth respectively. 15% of smokers and 12% of smokeless tobacco users reported with severe gingivitis. 11% of smokers and 16% of smokeless tobacco users reported with poor plaque index score. Smokers had poor gingival and periodontal health when compared to smokeless tobacco users. Smokeless tobacco users had more plaque accumulation when compared with smokers. Prevention of tobacco usage onset and support for cessation of the same could contribute to improved oral health status.