Quintessence International, 03/1995

When ankylosed primary teeth are retained beyond the mixed-dentition stage and the involved teeth are below the occlusal plane, occlusal and interproximal contacts can be restored to esthetic and functional anatomic contours. With the development of new, improved posterior composite resins that have greater wear resistance and stronger adhesive bonding systems for enamel and dentin, new opportunities for conservative, simple, and efficient esthetic and functional restorations are possible in selected retained ankylosed primary molars.

This paper describes an adhesive technique to restore cervical erosion and abrasion lesions so that the are acan be used for clasp retention of a removable partial denture. An enamel fragment is used to recontour the area, achieving function and esthetics.

The destruction of the crown underlying a partial denture can render useless an otherwise acceptable prosthesis unless some means can be found for building up the tooth under the prosthesis. The aim of this article is to introduce a technique in which light-curing glass-ionomer resin cement is utilized for the direct restoration of removable partial denture abutments. The cavity preparation is completed in the customary manner. The cement is applied en masse and covered with a suitable translucent separating sheet. The denture is reinserted and the restoration is light cured from the perimeter of the abutment. The denture is removed, and with the aid of a suitable disclosing medium, the restoration is trimmed carefully to avoid reducing the intimate adaptation between the restoration and the removable partial denture. The technique is offered with full acknowledgement that it is a compromised treatment option.

This case report describes the treatment of an adult patient with partial anodontia. Treatment began with the extraction of several retained primary teeth and the insertion of an immediate transitional removable partial denture that was used to evaluate the possibility of increasing the patient's vertical dimension of occlusion. Later, the entire mandibular arch was restored with fixed restorations. Once the vertical dimension of occlusion was established and controlled, the maxillary arch was restored. Metal-ceramic crowns placed on the central incisors were contoured to accommodate a rotational path removable partial denture. The partial denture utilized rigid metal retention on the distal surface of the central incisors instead of clasps. This design produced a very esthetic and stable prosthesis.

A case of an anteriorly edentulous patient who was treated with a combination of traditional fixed dentures and a resin-bonded retainer with intraradicular retention joined by a nonrigid connector is presented. This type of treatment permits conservation of dental structure, favoring function and esthetic appearance.

The periotest method, an objective, noninvasive clinical diagnostic method, is a dynamic procedure that measures the resistance of the periodontium to a defined impact load. It has been reported that Periotest values depend to some extent on tooth mobility, but mainly on the damping characteristics of the periodontium. Nevertheless, the eal clinical meaning of the measurements and some important limitations of the Periotest measuring principle still seem to be poorly understood. In the present study, the relationship between damping characteristics of periodontal tisues and tooth mobility was investigated. The best correlations between tooth deflection and Periotest values were found for teeth showing a certain degree of clinical mobility (R2 from .79 to .91). Nevertheless, this correlation was clearly lower when only healthy subjects were examined (R2 from .43 to .54). The better correlation found for forces greater than 1.0 N indicates that the damping characteristics assessed with the periotest method are related to secondary tooth movement. The Periotest methodology, measuring principle, and limitations are critically reviewed.

In the present crossover clinical trial, the plaque-removing efficacy of a counterrotational toothbrush was compared to that of a normal toothbruse in orthodontic patients. Twenty subjects, aged 11 to 26 years, who had orthodontic brackets on all fully erupted teeth of at lease one arch were selected. At the first appointment, a prophylaxis was given to bring the plaque score to 0. Ten subjects received counterrotational brushes, and 10 subjects received manual brushes according to a randomized list. At 14 days, plaque scores were recorded and another prophylaxis was given. The subjects who were using the electric brush were assigned to the manual brush and vice versa. At 38 days, plaque scores were reassessed. Results showed that the counterrottional brush was significantly more effective in removing supragingival plaque from bracketed teeth than was the manual brush. The differences in plaque-removing effectiveness were particularly consistent on the proximal surfaces of the teeth.

The present study was undertaken to explore the factors that influence decisions regarding wearing of gloves in the setting of private general practice. A survey of 250 dentists in Brisbane, Australia (41% of the total private general practitioners in the region), was conducted. Routine use of gloves was commonplace (84.6%); however, many dentists experienced skin problems related to glove use. Years of experience and unsolicited patient comments regarding glove wearing were significantly associated with paterns of glove use, while other factors examined did not exert a significant effect (practice profile, practice location, frequency of treating patients known to have an infectious disease, rate of sharps injuries, choice of glove material, and frequency of adverse mucosal and cutaneous reactions). These results revealed the need for further educational campaigns in practical infection-control measures for all practitioners, regardless of their level of experience. An educational approach used by the authors is described.

An aspirated gold crown could not be removed with standard instruments. The crown was successfully grasped and removed with a large biopsy forceps commonly used in the performance of laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

A dental technician suffered abrasion of his anterior teeth because of his technique of handling procelain powder during the construction of restorations. To keep the brush moist, he habitually licked it as he applied porcelain powder to restorations. The porcelain powder, which is extremely abrasive, acted as a grinding powder between his maxillary and mandibular anterior teeth. Adjunctive orthodontics and a combination of adhesive, minimal intervention restorations were used to create an esthetic and functional solution.

The purpose of this study was to compare the tensile bond strengths of resin composite to dentin, mediated by two new bonding systems (Scotchbond Multi-Purpose and Clearfil Liner Bond II), under simulated pulpal pressure when diluted bovineserum or saline was used as the pulpal fluid. The bond strengths of the two bonding systems to dentin (under a pulpal pressure of 15 cm of water) obtained when bovine serum was used were statistically significantly higher than those obtained when saline was used. These data suggest that the primers of these bonding systems decreased the dentinal permeability when the bovine serum pulpal fluid was used through the precipitation of serum proteins by the primers in the dentinal tubules. This may have allowed better penetration of the bonding resin monomers into the conditioned dentinal structure, thus improving the bond strength. These findings support the idea that topical application of dentinal bonding systems may be an effective therapy for treating hypersensitive dentin.