The objective of this study was to investigate general dentists’ observations of various aesthetic dental procedures among social media users. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Prosthodontics, Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine, over a duration of six months. Data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire comprising 21 predefined responses. The questionnaire was uploaded and disseminated through Google Surveys by forwarding web page links through emails and WhatsApp. The data collected were analysed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-Version 25). The majority (90.7%) of the dental practitioners surveyed believed that there is an increase in the demand for aesthetic dental procedures and social media is a major contributor to it. Moreover, most of the 377 (81.8%) participants agreed that social media is a beneficial platform enabling them to educate, advertise, and communicate with patients. Concerning popular aesthetic procedures, teeth whitening (54.7%), Hollywood smile (17.1%), dental veneers (11.9%), and Invisalign (10.4%) were the most commonly demanded aesthetic procedures. The patients showed desire for these procedures because they were trending on social media platforms. Almost half of the general dental practitioners used social media to post their content related to aesthetic dentistry and to promote their work. They preferred using before and after pictures (48.6%) for advertising their content related to aesthetic dentistry. Within the limitations of the study, it is concluded that the demand for aesthetic dentistry is rapidly growing, and social media is the main driving force behind this revolution as the general population has direct access to the profiles of celebrities and influencers, who all appear to have ‘the perfect smile’. This shift in people’s self-image has created a surge in patients seeking cosmetic treatments.

Corona Virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic and is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) group of viruses. To date, April 25, 2020, more than 2.4 million humans are infected and more than a hundred thousand deaths have been reported from more than 200 countries from COVID-19. There is no evidence-based treatment for the infection and prevention of transmission using social distancing, isolation and hygiene measures is widely recommended. Tobacco smoking is rampant in communities around the globe and the addiction to tobacco results in deaths of more than 8 million individuals each year. As COVID-19 transmits through salivary droplets and causes severe lung pneumonia, tobacco smokers are also at high risk of severe COVID-19 infection due to poor lung function, cross-infection and susceptible hygiene habits. Smoking tobacco (cigarette, e-cigarettes or waterpipe) produces exhaled smoke, coughing or sneezing, aerosols containing SARS-CoV-2 in the surroundings and contaminating surfaces. Therefore, smoking tobacco is a possible mode of transmission for the virus for both active and passive smokers. Smoking should be considered a risk factor for the disease transmission until further availability of evidence and measures to limit its direct and indirect effects should be implemented within the community. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.COVID19-S4.2739 How to cite this:Ahmed N, Maqsood A, Abduljabbar T, Vohra F. Tobacco Smoking a Potential Risk Factor in Transmission of COVID-19 Infection. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(COVID19-S4):COVID19-S104-S107. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.COVID19-S4.2739 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

A vital feature of conservative dentistry is the adhesion of the restorative material to the tooth structure for restoration of the tooth substance lost due to dental decay, trauma, or dental imperfections. In a perfect world, a restorative material should generate a lasting adhesion by bonding the restoration with tooth tissues. The ingress of micro-organisms, oral fluids, molecules, and ions through microscopic spaces due to faulty adhesion between restoration and tooth structure is known as microleakage. This study is focuses on the evaluation of adhesive failures between the restorative materials. In the past, studies have focused more on the bonding potential of a restorative material with the tooth surface. Therefore, there is need to carry out a study that compares the microleakage between resin-based restorative materials in a sandwich manner with and without the intermediate bonding layer after immersion in 2% methylene blue dye at different time intervals. The restorative materials used were composite Ceram X Mono plus (DENTSPLY) and Z350 (3M ESPE), Vitremer resin modified glass ionomer cement (RMGIC) (3M ESPE), smart dentine replacement SDR (3M ESPE), Bond NT (DENTSPLY), and Universal Bond (3M ESPE). A light emitting diode (LED) was used to cure the specimens. Artificial saliva was used as a storage medium for the specimens. Thermocycling of specimens was carried out at 500 cycles/30 s and 1000 cycles/30 s. The world health organization (WHO) grading tool for microleakage was used to analyze fluid ingress in the specimens through disclosing by 2% methylene blue dye. The statistical analysis was carried out with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey post hoc test, keeping the level of significance at p ≤ 0.05. In Grade 0 = 85 samples, Grade 1 = 10 samples, Grade 2 = 7 samples, Grade 3 = 16 samples, and in Grade 4 = 2 samples were identified. This study describes that no microleakage was observed in SDR and resin composite groups as compared to Vitremer and resin composite groups.

The mucocele is the most common minor salivary gland associated disease of the oral cavity. It is also considered one of the most common biopsied oral lesions in pediatric patients. In recent years, extensive evidence has been published about the usage of lasers in treating mucoceles in pediatric patients. The aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of laser irradiation in the treatment of pediatric mucocele. An electronic search of databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar) was carried out in order to identify all relevant articles using a combination of the following keywords: “Pediatric”, “Oral”, “Mucocele”, “Dental”, “Oral Medicine”, “Soft Dental Lasers”, “Hard Dental Lasers”, and “Lasers,” for all case reports, case series, case-control and cohort studies published from 2007 to 2021. After limiting the search results, removing duplicate titles, and eligibility evaluation, 17 papers were enrolled in the study. Out of the total studies included, 10 articles were related to the diode (635 nm, 808 nm, 810 nm, and 980 nm), 5 to CO₂ (10,600 nm), 3 to Er, Cr: YSGG (2780 nm), and 1 involving KTP lasers (532 nm). All studies indicated successful clinical results on mucocele excision with better intra- and post-operative indicators. The general characteristics and outcomes were summarized, and the quality of the studies was assessed using CARE guidelines in this systematic review. The reduction or absence of pain and bleeding, hemostasis, reduced operating time, minimal analgesic consumption, and an antibacterial effect were among the advantages of laser irradiation in the included studies. The laser has proven itself to play an effective role in the treatment of oral mucocele in paediatric patients.

To reduce morbidity and mortality rates of OSCC cases, early diagnosis, assessment of behavior and prognostic estimates are vital. This study analyzed the expression of CD34 and alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in OSCC, to establish their significance in diagnosis and prognosis. Primary cases of OSCC, diagnosed with excisional biopsy at multiple cancer treatment centers, were included. Tissue sections were embedded and stained with H & E for histological differentiation and invasion of tumor vessel. Immunohistochemistry was performed using antibodies against CD34 and α-SMA. The chi-square and Pearson correlation coefficient (r) tests were applied for data analysis. Eighty patients with fifty males (62.5%) and thirty females (37.5%) and mean age of 45 ± 14.1 years were evaluated. Buccal mucosa was the most common site for OSCC lesions [36 (45%)]; 47.5% of lesions were moderately differentiated and 33.8% were well-differentiated lesions. Invasion of tumor vessels was observed in 35% of specimens. A significant association was seen between CD34 expression and histological grading of OSCC (p < 0.002). Among all poorly differentiated OSCC specimens, expression of CD 34 was low and α-SMA was high. CD 34 is a critical prognostic factor in OSCC diagnosis and increased α-SMA-positive myofibroblasts may indicate aggressive OSCC behavior.

The oral cavity is an intricate environment subjected to various chemical, physical, and thermal injuries. The effectiveness of the local and systemically administered drugs is limited mainly due to their toxicities and poor oral bioavailability that leads to the limited effectiveness of the drugs in the target tissues. To address these issues, nanoparticle drug delivery systems based on metals, liposomes, polymeric particles, and core shells have been developed in recent years. Nano drug delivery systems have applications in the treatment of patients suffering from temporomandibular joint disorders such as preventing degeneration of cartilage in patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis and alleviating the pain along with it. The antibacterial dental applications of nano-drug delivery systems such as silver and copper-based nanoparticles include these agents used to arrest dental caries, multiple steps in root canal treatment, and patients suffering from periodontitis. Nanoparticles have been used in adjunct with antifungals to treat oral fungal infections such as candida albicans in denture wearers. Acyclovir being the most commonly used antiviral has been used in combination with nanoparticles against an array of viral infections such as the herpes simplex virus. Nanoparticles based combination agents offer more favorable drug release in a controlled manner along with efficient delivery at the site of action. This review presents an updated overview of the recently developed nanoparticles delivery systems for the management of temporomandibular joint disorders along with the treatment of different oral infections.