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Moringa oleifera Lam., also referred to as munga, is one of the most important plants that are widely farmed in India. It belongs to the family Moringaceae. A popular nutritional supplement, Moringa oleifera Lam possesses a number of advantageous pharmacological qualities, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-allergic, wound healing and analgesic. The most extensively grown species of the monogeneric Moringaceae family, which is native to south Asia, is Moringa oleifera.

Introduction: The toothbrush is one of the most commonly used mechanical aids for plaque control, capable of removing plaque efficiently. However, improper toothbrushing habits can lead to tissue trauma, such as abrasion or gingival recession. The design of toothbrush bristles is one of the most common etiological factors for abrasion. Aim: To evaluate and compare the enamel surface abrasion produced by three different toothbrush bristle designs in conjunction with a standard dentifrice. Materials and Methods: In this in-vitro study conducted in the Department of Periodontics, Bharati Vidyapeeth Dental College and Hospital, Pune, Maharashtra, India, from June 2023 to January 2024, a total of 21 extracted human premolars were collected. After thorough cleaning, the teeth were stored in normal saline. The crown portions of the teeth were mounted on an acrylic resin base and profilometric analysis was performed to record the average enamel surface roughness (Ra) value. The teeth were randomly divided into three groups based on the toothbrush bristle design used for toothbrushing: Group A: Tapered bristle, Group B: End-rounded bristle, Group C: Flat-trim bristle. Toothbrushing was carried out using a customised toothbrushing device and a standard dentifrice twice daily for six weeks. After six weeks, profilometric analysis was conducted again. Descriptive statistics were expressed as means and standard deviations. The comparison of enamel surface abrasion among the three different toothbrush bristle designs was performed using the One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test, followed by the post-hoc Bonferroni test for pair-wise comparison. In this test, a p-value less than or equal to 0.05 was considered statistically significant. All analyses were conducted using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0. Results: The results showed significantly greater Ra values for Group C (flat-trim bristle: 0.13±0.06) compared to Group A (tapered bristle: 0.09±0.03) and Group B (end-rounded bristle: 0.04±0.02). Group B exhibited the lowest Ra value, indicating the least enamel surface roughness (p-value: 0.038*). Conclusion: Within the limitations of the study, stylus profilometer analysis demonstrated that the flat-trim toothbrush bristle design is more prone to causing enamel surface abrasion than the end-rounded and tapered bristle designs. The end-rounded toothbrush bristle design causes minimal enamel surface abrasion and is safer to use as an effective mechanical plaque control aid.

Periodontitis can be defined as a multifactorial inflammatory disease of bacterial origin causing destruction of periodontal tissues. Achieving effective regeneration in periodontal therapy still remains a foremost goal. Chemical modification of tooth surface has been the most persistent effort to achieve periodontal regeneration. There are controversies regarding effectiveness of root biomodification due to a mixture of results from clinical and histological studies. This review provides an acumen about root biomodification in clinical conditions as well as a summary on the novel biomodification agents.

Hiccups are involuntary reflexes, usually habitual and self-limiting in nature, experienced by the majority of people at some point in their lives. Persistent hiccups induced by pharmacotherapeutic agents, such as steroids, are considered minor complications. They can cause extreme discomfort and significantly lower the patient’s quality of life. This is the first report of persistent severe hiccups after Dexamethasone intramuscular administration in Indian patients post-dental treatment. Hereby, the authors present a case of a 50-year-old male patient with a medical history of Rheumatoid arthritis who was administered 8 mg of dexamethasone Intramuscular (IM) post-extraction. The patient was extremely restless when he reported to the dental clinic, as he had developed persistent hiccups post-24 hours. Neither the home remedies by the patient nor the topical application gel prescribed by the clinician were successful. As intractable hiccups continued for upto 34 hours, immediate action was taken, and the patient was referred to the physician. Pharmacological agents were administered, and the patient’s hiccups resolved completely by 42 hours. At the 1-week postoperative appointment, counseling was given on the suspected drug-induced cause of the transient hiccups for his future benefit. There is limited literature in dentistry on the management of drug-induced hiccups, despite the fact that clinicians routinely prescribe steroids postoperatively. The present case report comprehensively discusses the treatment algorithm for managing patients with drug-induced hiccups. Further studies are necessary to investigate the role of potential biomarkers for indicating the susceptibility of patients likely to develop severe persistent hiccups post-administration of steroids.

Periodontitis, a common inflammatory disease affecting the periodontal tissue, poses diagnostic and management challenges. Conventional methods are not capable of assessing disease activity or identifying individuals who are prone to progression. Biomarkers, measurable substances that indicate the presence, severity, or progression of disease, offer a promising approach to diagnosing periodontitis. Recent discoveries in molecular diagnostics have prompted the search for novel biomarkers, including cell-free DNA (cfDNA). This review article gives an insight into current knowledge regarding the use of cfDNA as a diagnostic marker in periodontal disease diagnosis.

Introduction: Periodontal disease is a chronic inflammatory infectious disease that increases the host’s overall inflammatory burden by inducing a persistent systemic inflammation. This burden has been linked to insulin resistance, the development of diabetes, and its complications. Periodontal therapy plays a vital role in controlling diabetes and its potentially fatal complications. Medical and dental professionals should be aware of this interrelationship between the two diseases to facilitate proper diagnosis and predict better treatment outcomes. Aim: To assess the knowledge of medical practitioners regarding periodontal disease and its inter-relationship with diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods: This was a questionnaire-based crosssectional study conducted by using google forms between May 2022 and October 2022 among 150 medical practitioners. The questionnaire consisted of 15 questions divided into two parts. The first part gathered personal data, while the second part focused on their knowledge about disease awareness. The collected data were analysed using percentages. Results: Out of 149 participants, who sent completed questionnaires, only 8 practitioners (5.4%) referred all while 99 (66.4%) referred only a few of their patients for dental check-ups. Among them, only 39 participants (26.2%) referred patients for regular general dental check-ups without any complaints or findings. Although 112 (75.2%) had knowledge about the association, only 59 participants (39.6%) knew that it is bidirectional. A total of 80 (53.7%) responses understood that periodontal bacterial load and associated inflammation caused alterations in sugar levels. However, 68 (45.6%) were unaware that periodontal treatment can help improve glycaemic status. Conclusion: It can be inferred that medical practitioners were not aware of the connection between periodontal disease and diabetes mellitus.

Focal Reactive Overgrowths (FROGs) are commonly occurring mucosal lesions in oral cavity. FROGs include Focal Fibrous Hyperplasia (FFH), Pyogenic Granuloma (PG), Peripheral Ossifying Fibroma (POF) and Peripheral Giant Cell Granuloma (PGCG). These overgrowths comprise of lesions that are essentially a response to a low-grade stimulus. These lesions have similar clinical and biological behaviour but differ in their histogenesis and histopathological features. Despite the differences, the treatment of all the lesions is essentially the same i.e., efficient plaque control, removal of aetiological factors and conservative excision of the tissue. Though, recurrence rate of these lesions is low, follow up is imperative. Few peripheral odontogenic tumours, benign and malignant epithelial and connective tissue tumours may imitate FROGs clinically. Hence, it is necessary that clinicians have adequate knowledge about FROGs so as to differentiate them from other lesions. Herein, we present a series of eight cases of FROGs, highlighting their clinicopathological features along with a brief review of literature. The aim of this paper is to further the knowledge of FROGs amongst the clinicians.