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Background. In the modern tech-savvy era, scientific literature publication remains the optimal way to disperse knowledge, even if it has transformed from print to mostly electronic. With the new and improved publication methods, also come more scrutiny and analytic criticism of the scientific work. It becomes even more important in this context to rectify flawed scientific work responsibly. This present study was undertaken to help clarify the process and causes of retractions occurring in the dental community and analyse its reasons. Methodology. A total of 8092 PubMed indexed articles were scanned from the online libraries, and individually scanning for author details, place of study, subspecialty of research, funding, dates of original publication, and retraction notices issued along with journal specifics such as type and impact factors, country of publishing was compiled and analysed by two authors. The dataset was then collaboratively analysed using Panda's Library in Python software as an analysis tool for data preparation and for frequency analysis. The estimates were presented as mean differences (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results. The present study had a compiled dataset of 198 articles after screening and revealed that maximum retractions of dentistry-related research originated from India (25.3%) and, on average, took 2.6 years to be issued a retraction notice. We also deciphered that the USA retracted maximum dental articles (34.8%), and plagiarism was cited as the most common (38.02%) reason for doing so. The present study also brought to light that there was a trend for lower impact factor-dental journals in retracting maximum articles, most of which were nonfunded (62.16%). The results signify that 63.78% of all retracted papers continued to be cited postretractions. Conclusions. The retractions happening in the field of dental literature are currently too time-consuming and often unclear to the readers. The authors would like to conclude that the retracted papers were mostly from India and Spain mostly related to endodontics or prosthodontic research. All of this warrants the need for better scrutiny and reforms in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Numerous methods of age estimation have been proposed. The Demirjian method which was first applied in a French-Canadian population in 1972 is the most frequently used dental age estimation method. However, a constant over estimation using this method has been reported by numerous researchers. The Willems method is a modification of the above and was first applied in a Belgian Caucasian population in 2002. Several studies in the recent years found Willems method to be more accurate than the original Demirjians method. Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the applicability of Willems method for dental age estimation in 6 -15-year-old North Indian children. Methods: The sample for this cross sectional study consisted of 390 OPGs of (215 boys and 175 girls) randomly selected from the patient records of a post graduate training dental college in North India. Exact chronological age of the subjects (in years and months) was calculated. The OPGs were used to score the seven mandibular teeth and dental age was estimated using the tables proposed in Willems method. Results: Significant correlation between the chronological age and dental age estimated using Willems method was observed in both males (r = 0.90) and females (r = 0.87). The mean difference between estimated DA and CA for males was 0.004 ± 1.08 years (P = 0.94). While for females, it was 0.031 ± 1.18 years (P = 0.72). The results showed no statistically significant difference between chronological age and dental age estimated using Willems method in the study population. Conclusion: Willems dental age estimation method without any modification can predict the chronological age of 6-15 year old North Indian children with good accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose/objectives: Social media platforms (SMPs) have become a popular portal for the acquisition and dissemination of dentistry-related information. The study aims to identify the pattern and influence SMPs for education and practice among dental trainees and professionals., Method and Materials: A cross-sectional study involving dental trainees and clinical professionals was conducted based on a structured 20-item survey instrument among dental trainees and professionals. The validated questionnaire was circulated among six dental training institutions in India through the internet-based application Google form and achieved a response rate of 60%. The questionnaire focused on identifying the usage of social media in disseminating dentistry-related content. The data from responders were extracted, sorted, and analyzed for descriptive analysis of various factors., Result: The survey revealed the most common SMP used for dentistry-related content as YouTube. The second most commonly used SMP was Facebook for professionals whereas it was Instagram for younger trainees. There was a highly significant difference between professionals and trainees concerning their sources of new information and the most commonly used SMP for dental education (p < 0.001)., Conclusions: There is a growing consensus among young dental trainees and professionals on SMPs being an effective open access knowledge center. The survey results call for the need for a scientific journal and dental schools to have verified pages in social media to act as flagbearers of evidence-based dental practices. The potentials of SMPs in providing open access information collection to wider viewership across the globe and being a digital archive in attractive audio-visual forms can be used to strengthen the conventional educational model and improvise clinical practice., (© 2022 American Dental Education Association.)