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Background: Clinical use of antibiotics prophylaxis (AP) for preventing infective endocarditis (IE) after invasive dental procedures is controversial. Expert consensus guidelines are inconsistent, either restricting its use to high-risk individuals or advising its use again. Objectives: To determine whether there is a genuine need for AP to prevent IE in high-risk patients undergoing invasive dental procedures. Methods: Online search was performed on PubMed, Science Direct, British Dental Journal and Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials. The methodological quality of each study was assessed using the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Results: Seventeen (17) clinical trials were included in the final analysis recruiting 2,410 patients (AP = 1,366; placebo = 1,044). Bacteraemia was detected in 302 AP patients (22.1%) and 362 placebo patients (34.7%). AP reduced the risk of bacteraemia by 49% (risk ratio: 0.51; 95% CI; 0.45 to 0.58; P = 0.0001). Conclusion: Although using AP for IE may be pragmatic and justified for high-risk patients undergoing invasive dental procedures, the evidence is inconclusive because post-procedural bacteraemia may not be a good surrogate marker for IE. Moreover, trials investigating the direct association between AP and IE are lacking due to low disease prevalence and high-cost challenges.

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are common in dentistry due to the prolonged static work involved during patient care, making dental health care personnel vulnerable to musculoskeletal complaints. We aimed to pool the prevalence estimates of MSD among various dental healthcare providers, including dentists, dental students, dental hygienists, and auxiliaries. Methods: A systematic search of five databases was performed (Scopus, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source). The studies that reported the prevalence of MSD among dental healthcare workers and those written in English were selected. Screening and data extraction were performed by two review authors independently. Discrepencies were resolved by another review author. Risk of bias assessment was done using a nine-item questionnaire developed by Hoy et al. Pooled estimates were calculated using meta-analysis of proportions (random effects model). Results: Among the 3090 publications screened, 234 publications were included for full-text screening. Meta-analysis was performed for 89 estimates from 88 publications. Females showed significantly higher prevalence [OR = 1.42 (95% CI = 1.09–1.84); I2 = 66.02; N = 32]. The analysis yielded a pooled estimate of 78.4% (95% CI = 74.8–82). The meta-regression showed similar prevalence over the years (Coefficient: 0.001; P-value: 0.762). Conclusions: A high prevalence of MSD was noted among dental healthcare providers, with about seven out of ten having experienced MSD in the past. This emphasizes the need for awareness and adoption of appropriate ergonomic postures by dental healthcare providers from early in their careers to minimize work-related MSD.

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are common in dentistry due to the prolonged static work involved during patient care, making dental health care personnel vulnerable to musculoskeletal complaints. We aimed to pool the prevalence estimates of MSD among various dental healthcare providers, including dentists, dental students, dental hygienists, and auxiliaries. Methods: A systematic search of five databases was performed (Scopus, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source). The studies that reported the prevalence of MSD among dental healthcare workers and those written in English were selected. Screening and data extraction were performed by two review authors independently. Discrepencies were resolved by another review author. Risk of bias assessment was done using a nine-item questionnaire developed by Hoy et al. Pooled estimates were calculated using meta-analysis of proportions (random effects model). Results: Among the 3090 publications screened, 234 publications were included for full-text screening. Meta-analysis was performed for 89 estimates from 88 publications. Females showed significantly higher prevalence [OR = 1.42 (95% CI = 1.09–1.84); I2 = 66.02; N = 32]. The analysis yielded a pooled estimate of 78.4% (95% CI = 74.8–82). The meta-regression showed similar prevalence over the years (Coefficient: 0.001; P-value: 0.762). Conclusions: A high prevalence of MSD was noted among dental healthcare providers, with about seven out of ten having experienced MSD in the past. This emphasizes the need for awareness and adoption of appropriate ergonomic postures by dental healthcare providers from early in their careers to minimize work-related MSD.

Background and aim: Plaque is a common etiological factor for common oral conditions like gingivitis, periodontitis, dental caries and halitosis. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a novel herbal dentifrice in control of plaque, gingivitis, and halitosis in comparison to control dentifrice. Experimental procedure: We conducted a randomized controlled, single center, double-blinded parallel arm clinical trial. Participants were randomly distributed with commercially available herbal dentifrice or control dentifrice. Assessments of plaque, gingivitis, halitosis, unstimulated saliva pH were done at baseline and at one month by a trained and calibrated periodontist. All the participants were given new toothbrushes one week before the start of the study. They were asked to brush with the designated dentifrices for 2–4 min, twice daily for one month. Results and conclusion: A total of 79 participants were recruited for this study, out of which 75 participants completed the follow-up. Inter-group comparisons of all the variables at baseline showed no significant differences in the mean plaque index, gingival index, halitosis and pH between test and control groups respectively. Intra-group comparisons showed a significant decrease in mean plaque, gingival and halitosis at follow-up than at baseline in both test and control groups. No significant differences between test and control groups were seen in the mean plaque index (P = 0.792), gingival index (P = 0.292), halitosis (P = 0.266), pH (P = 0.742) at follow-up after adjusting the respective baseline scores. The novel herbal dentifrice could be a suitable alternative for the control of plaque, gingivitis, and halitosis.

Aim: To evaluate the cumulative estimates of reliability and conduct reliability generalization meta-analysis of Cronbach's alpha for the Child Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (C-OIDP) questionnaire. Methodology: Systematic search of four databases from inception to November 30th, 2019 was performed. Studies that reported Cronbach alpha for the C–OIDP were included. Cronbach's alpha for each publication was used for the meta-analysis. I2 and Q statistics were calculated to assess heterogeneity. Meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model to derive a pooled estimate of Cronbach's alpha. Results: Out of 944 publications, data extraction was done from 33 publications after exclusion. The age range among the included publication was from 6 to 19 years. Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.53 to 0.9. Majority of the publications (n = 21) reported alpha above the benchmark (0.7 and above). Only two publications used condition-specific C-OIDP questionnaires. Twelve publications used self-administered child-OIDP questionnaires. Most of the studies were at a low risk of bias (n = 29). The cumulative alpha was higher in publications with a low ROB (α = 0.74) than a moderate ROB (α = 0.65) The cumulative alpha was 0.73 (SE = 0.02) with a high heterogeneity among the included publications (I2 = 99.28% and Q = 2048.68; P

Background: Dental appearance may influence how others perceive individuals. This study would help to understand whether young people make judgments about other young people with dental fluorosis. Aim: We aimed to evaluate the perception of children aged 12–15 years about other children with visible dental fluorosis. Materials and methods: A self-administered social attribute questionnaire was used to capture dental appearance-related judgments of 455 children aged 12–15 years, from 6 schools. All the children were given either a set of full-face photographs of a boy and a girl, without dental fluorosis or digitally modified anterior teeth to show visible dental fluorosis. The Total Attribute Score (TAS) was measured by totaling the participant's ratings for each characteristic, ranging from 11 (most negative score) and 44 (most positive). Results: A total of 437 children participated, 53.8% (235) were males with a mean age of 13.99 ± 0.825. The mean TAS for photographs with fluorosis (25.9 ± 4.73) was significantly lower than without fluorosis (34.8 ± 4.83) (p

Objective: To assess the total sugar content, endogenous pH, total soluble solids content (TSSC) and titratable acidity of the commonly prescribed long-term and short-term liquid oral medicines (LOM) for children and to compare the erosive potential with the total sugar content and total soluble solids of the LOM. Material and Methods: Twenty-three most commonly prescribed pediatric LOM were evaluated in- vitro for the cariogenic and erosive potential. Manufacturers' information on labels, endogenous pH, titratable acidity, TSSC, and the total sugar content was determined. Descriptive statistics and the Mann- Whitney U test were applied. Results: Overall, 22 LOM contained sugar. Only 3 LOM revealed the sugar content of the formulation but did not disclose the quantity (Cheston, Ventorlin and Eptoin). None of the samples revealed the sugar content as well as endogenous pH in their labels. The overall mean total sugar content was 6.92 ± 3.49 g/100ml, ranging from 3.40 ± 0.00 (corticosteroids) to 9.67 ± 0.61 (antitussive/expectorant). The mean endogenous pH for the total sample of medicines was 5.91 ± 1.51 (range of 3.5 to 10.3). Eptoin (0.013%) presented the lowest titratable acidity and Imol (1.171%) presented the highest titratable acidity with an overall mean of 0.40 ± 0.73. Omnacortil and Epilex presented the highest TSS content (19.3%), and Ventorlin presented the lowest TSS content (18.7%) with an overall mean of 18.97 ± 0.19. Over twelve medicines were identified to have the potential to cause dental erosion. No significant differences were seen in the total sugar content, total soluble solids, titratable acidity, and the endogenous pH between the short-term and long-term LOMs (p=0.145, p=0.263, p=0.067 and p=0.107), respectively. Conclusion: The pediatric LOMs showed the presence of the sugar, low endogenous pH, high titratable acidity and high total soluble solids.

Aim: To evaluate the pooled prevalence of root caries through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: A keyword search was done in Scopus, Pubmed and CINAHL databases using all the synonyms of root caries in the published literature (till January 1st, 2018). The search was supplemented with standard Boolean operators and other keywords like prevalence, epidemiology in the title, abstract and MeSH terms. Data was extracted and exported to Covidence software for screening and removal of duplicates. Results: The search revealed a total of 492 documents from Scopus (n = 95), Pubmed (n = 220) and CINAHL (n = 177). Random effects model was used as there was a high degree of heterogeneity was seen among the studies published (I2 = 99.62%). A total of 74 publications were included in the analysis of the pooled prevalence of root caries which yielded a prevalence of 41.5 (36.9–46.1). Conclusion: Root caries is a significant problem, and four out of ten adults might be affected. Keywords: Root, Caries, Decay, Prevalence, Systematic review, Meta-analysis