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Background: Exposure to tobacco at a young age leads to a subsequent smoking habit in large proportions of the population in adulthood. Social and mass media have both positive and negative effects on adolescents’ behavior and social skills and therefore play vital roles in driving this behavior. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of film stars on smoking initiation and tobacco use among male adolescents aged 13–15 years in Chennai city, Tamil Nadu, India. Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional design. In total, 200 students from schools that serve low-income households participated in the study. All the students completed a 20-item questionnaire on the perceived severity of smoking, perceived barriers to quitting, and factors affecting quitting. Results: None of the participants had a history of smoking. One (0.5%) participant stated that he smoked daily. All the participants agreed that exposure to media images of smoking behavior among their favorite film stars would not encourage them to smoke. In terms of peer pressure, one (0.5%) participant stated that he would accept a cigarette if offered one by a friend. Only descriptive information of the collected data was tabulated as the aim of the study was to collect the baseline data and not to test any prespecified hypothesis. Conclusion: In our study, peer pressure seemed to play more influence on the smoking initiation by adolescents than the film stars on mass media. Though all of them agreed that they would not be provoked by media images of film stars smoking, one participant was likely to initiate the habit on being offered by his friend. Hence, the evidence suggests the need for reorientation of research modalities to better identify early initiators of smoking.

Statement of the Problem: It is essential to address caries risk at an early stage for the prevention of dental caries. Mobile application CaRisk is designed in a particular way to self-assess the dental caries risk by the individual’s themselves. Purpose: The current study aimed to assess the dental caries risk among age groups 5-6 and 35-44 using self-assessment caries risk mobile application CaRisk and compare it with the deft and DMFT values. Materials and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Chennai, India; to evaluate the risk of dental caries in children aged 5 to 6 and adults aged 35 to 44. The scores of the mobile application CaRisk and the decayed- extracted-filled teeth (deft)/ decayed-missing-filled-teeth (DMFT) caries risk assessment were evaluated. Descriptive statistics were performed. The risk category was determined by frequency. Chi-square analysis was done to determine whether the DMFT scores and the CaRisk mobile app were associated. The correlation was performed between the CaRisk mobile application and DMFT scores. Results: Association was found between the caries risk assessment score of the mobile application CaRisk and the DMFT and deft scores of the adults and children for both the age groups 5-6 and 35-44 years respectively and it indicates that it was found to be statistically significant. Pearson’s correlation was performed to assess the strength of association and R-values obtained for the age group 5-6 and 35-44 years respectively, which was statistically significant (0.892 and 0.840). Conclusion: This CaRisk mobile application scores correlate with the deft and DMFT scores and it is an effective self-diagnosis tool for assessing dental caries risk assessment. Further, it is suggested that the mobile application CaRisk should be tested among a huge population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statement of the Problem: Despite topical fluoride being used for over 50 years in caries prevention, its complete potential in terms of formation of fluorapatite enamel and prolonged surface retention has not been harnessed. Purpose: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of nanoparticle based acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF) gel on surface enamel fluoride uptake through split mouth design over a period of six months, on patients undergoing orthodontic treatment and indicated for bilateral extraction of premolars on at least one of the arch. Materials and Method: A split mouth non randomized clinical trial was performed. Each of the 30 participants received one application of 4 minutes duration of both the intervention: Right half of the mouth received nanoparticle based APF gel, and left half of the mouth received conventional APF gel (16 Oz Pascal Corp.; strawberry flavor). Bilateral acid etch biopsy of enamel surface was take at 3 intervals- baseline,24 hours and 30 days. Using 1ml of 0.5M perchloric acid, acid etch enamel biopsy was taken for all the study subjects at 3 intervals of time (baseline, 24 hours and 30 days), bilaterally on the buccal and palatal/lingual surface of maxillary or mandibular premolars indicated for extraction, using 1 (l of 0.5M perchloric acid. After the premolars were extracted, scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis was done to determine the surface characteristics of enamel in both groups. Results: Overall, both fluoride uptake and depth of biopsy remained significant even after controlling for the covariates (time, group) individually and simultaneously (p< 0.05). Further analysis showed that fluoride uptake was significantly increased and biopsy depth significantly decreased in the nanoparticle based APF gel group at 24 hour and 30 day evaluation respectively. Conclusion: By reducing the size of sodium fluoride to increase the surface enamel uptake, our results support the use of this top down approach as a promising strategy for effective delivery of topical fluorides. This highlights that the top down approach of nanoscience to reduce the size active compound sodium fluoride has increased the uptake and retention of surface enamel fluoride.

Background: Special children are among the underserved dental patient groups around the globe, and their oral health care still remains an unmet challenge among the dental practitioners. One out of two persons with a disability cannot find an oral health professional resource to provide appropriate dental care. The identification of barriers can be the first step in addressing the deficiencies in dental care for such patients. Aim: The aim of the study is to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices toward treating patients with special care need among private dental practitioners employed at a private dental teaching institution. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional pilot study was conducted among a conveniently sampled 45 dental professionals from the same institution who were both private dental practitioners as well as academicians. The study was conducted between November 2017 and December 2017. Participants were interviewed through a validated questionnaire, which consisted of 14 items. The questionnaire comprised demographic details of the participants, their years of dental experience, disabled patients they had encountered so far in their practice, and questions related to their attitude, perception, and practice to provide oral health care for patients with special needs. Informed consent was obtained from the participants prior to the study. The data obtained were entered into Microsoft Excel 2010 and descriptive statistics was computed using the SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp. Results: A response of 71% was obtained. Majority of the dentists (65%) were unaware of the Right to Disability Act. Half of the dentists (50%) felt teledentistry would do more good to people with special needs. About (31.8%) of them felt inadequate training to handle patients with special needs as major barrier faced while treating them. Conclusion: Majority of the study participants felt inadequate training among the dental practitioners as barrier to treat special needs patients and hence suggested incorporation of special care dentistry into the dental curriculum.

Aim: To compare the effectiveness of nanoparticle-based acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF) gel and conventional APF gel on the surface microhardness of human enamel. Materials and methods: This study was performed on 30 sound human teeth extracted in a 2 month period for the purpose of orthodontic or periodontal reasons. The crown portion of each tooth was divided into 2 halves and treated for 4 min, using for the right half a nanoparticle-based APF gel and for the left half a conventional APF gel. The surface enamel microhardness was measured using the Vickers microhardness test at baseline, after 24 hr, and at 30 days. Results: On analysis, after 24 hr, in the nanoparticle-based APF gel group, the tooth samples showed a significant increase in surface microhardness compared to those treated with the conventional APF gel. After 30 days, the microhardness in both the groups was reduced compared to that found at 24 hr. Conclusion: After 24 hr of treatment, the incorporation of nanoparticles of sodium fluoride, the active component in the APF gel, resulted in a significant increase in the enamel surface microhardness of teeth samples compared to treatment with a conventional APF gel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Motivation serves to be an integral part of health promotion to children at the learning phase of their life.Aim: Evaluation of the effectiveness of musical toothbrush over regular toothbrush in the debris and gingival bleeding scores among children.Settings and Design: This was a single-blinded parallel, randomized controlled trial conducted among 6-10-year-old schoolchildren in Chennai.Methods: One hundred participants with allocation ratio of 1:1 were assigned to musical and regular toothbrush group by simple randomization. After baseline evaluation (T0) of Debris Index-Simplified (DI-S) and Gingival Bleeding Index (GBI), outcome variables were assessed for a period of 3 months (T1, T2, and T3).Statistical Analysis Used: Friedman test and Mann-Whitney statistical test were used to compare the outcome variables within and across the two groups.Results: Thirty-two boys and 68 girls (mean age: 8.53 years) participated in the study. Statistically significant difference was seen in DI-S score among musical toothbrush group (mean: 0.50 [T3] and GBI score: 8.18% [T3]) when compared to regular toothbrush group (mean: 1.59 [T3] and GBI score: 23.54 [T3]) at the end of the 3rd month.Conclusion: Although both the musical and regular toothbrushes effectively reduced the DI-S and GBI scores, former showed effective change among children when compared to the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study aimed to assess the barriers faced by children with disability, both qualitatively and quantitatively, from the perspectives of caregivers and dental practitioners. Methods: A concurrent mixed method design was used. A sample of 195 dentists and 100 caregivers was selected through convenience sampling. A pre-validated questionnaire was used to assess the barriers faced by the children with disability in their care. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted with caregivers. Descriptive statistics were computed using SPSS version 20 and thematic analysis of qualitative data was done using NVivo software. Results: 195 dentists and 100 caregivers responded to the survey. Majority of practising dentists (83.7%) reported inadequate training in handling children with special needs, while caregivers (38%) reported fear of dentist among the children as major barriers experienced in utilising dental services. Conclusion and Implications: This study helps to identify the barriers faced by children with special healthcare needs. The findings highlight the need for hands-on training to be incorporated into the dental curriculum. It also suggests that improvements be made in dental clinics to accommodate these children in comfort. Due to limitations of the study, it is suggested that there is a need for further longitudinal studies that involve other family members of children with disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Attempts to refine toothbrushing (TB) technique, an ingrained habit in adults, can meet with some challenges. Recently, the role of proactive interference as a barrier to improving the learning of proper brushing has been proposed. This pilot feasibility study was designed to investigate TB behavior and to see how it changes after training. Smartphone video "selfies" (SPVSs) are increasingly being used in the medical field to assess, monitor, and determine the progression of diseases.Materials and Methods: We used SPVS to study TB skills in a small sample of volunteers. Over a period of 14 days, after a one-time group training session, we observed TB behavior of volunteers using self-captured SPVS.Results: Following the brief intervention, we observed an 8% of improvement in TB skills.Discussion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report using SPVS to study TB behavior. We demonstrated initial feasibility of using SPVS in the dental setting. We observed modest improvements in toothbrushing accuracy and quality, and we generated important experiences about the use of Selfies for TB monitoring and intervention, and some interesting insights about where in the toothbrushing is more or less effective.Conclusion: Further investigation using a larger sample size is needed to thoroughly assess the effectiveness of this approach to improve TB skills and better understand the role of proactive interference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proper tooth brushing is a seemingly simple motor activity that can promote oral health. Applying health theories, such as the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model, Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Integrated Health Coaching (IHC), may help optimize tooth brushing technique in those with suboptimal skills. Some motor activities, including tooth brushing, may over time become rote and unconscious actions, such that an existing habit can inhibit new learning, i.e., exert proactive interference on learning the new skill. Proactive interference may impede the acquisition of new tooth brushing skills; thus, in this report, we: (1) Review how the habit of tooth brushing is formed; (2) Postulate how proactive interference could impede the establishment of proper tooth brushing retraining; (3) Discuss the merits of this hypothesis; and (4) Provide guidance for future work in this topic within the context of an approach to behavior change that integrates IMB, MI and IHC methodology.