THE CLASSIC DENTAL DISEASES, CARies and periodontal disease, are commonly thought to have little effect on systemic health. These diseases result from infections by microbes with highly specific adhesion mechanisms in the mouth. Systemic disease resulting from infectious oral microbes is generally recognized to occur in patients with immunological and nutritional deficiencies, such as when indi...

O country has the distinction of being the second most populous countries in the world and it will not be too long to be the numero uno. As has been estimated by the WHO and similar statistical data which has been reported in the literature, we have a very high prevalence of periodontal diseases amongst the masses which in fact has been figured out to be greater than the dental caries. This pos...

BACKGROUND There is growing evidence of an association between oral health, specifically dental status, and chronic systemic diseases. However, varying measures of dental status across different populations and low study sample has made comparison of studies and conclusion of findings unclear. Our aim is to examine whether the number of teeth as a measure of dental status is associated with inc...

The 20th century brought major advances in dentistry. Fluoridation of the water supply has been identified as one of the top 10 public health initiatives of the 20th century and has resulted in a 30 to 50% reduction in dental caries. Dental implants have changed the rules of the game by offering patients an expanded range of options for replacement. Advances in dentistry have been so dramatic t...

OBJECTIVE To review the effects of tobacco use on oral health, with particular emphasis on the effects of periodontal diseases, dental implant failures, and risk of development of oral cancers and precancers. DATA SOURCES Medline literature search (1977-2002). STUDY SELECTION Key words for the literature search were 'tobacco smoking', 'periodontal disease', 'dental implant', and 'oral cance...

IN Dental and Oral X-ray Diagnosis Professor Hutchinson has not simply compiled an atlas of dental radiographs, but has given us a concise and comprehensive textbook covering most, if not all, aspects of dental disease. Starting with chapters on dental development, normal dental anatomy, and congenital and developmental anomalies of structure, the author proceeds to deal with injuries to teeth,...

BACKGROUND Breastfed babies have a better chance of improved oral and dental health than their counterparts that were artificially-fed. OBJECTIVE To assess the knowledge and attitude of postnatal mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding in prevention of oral and dental diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross - sectional descriptive survey of 206 mothers attending the postnatal clinic of the...

BACKGROUND This study investigated the prevalence of Enterococcus faecalis, its putative virulence factors and antimicrobial susceptibility in individuals with and without dental diseases. A total of 159 oral rinse specimens were collected from patients (n = 109) suffering from dental diseases and healthy controls (n = 50). RESULTS E. faecalis was detected using only culture in 8/109 (7.3%) o...