Background The rapid growth of social media in recent years has highlighted uses beyond their original purposes, particularly in education. Twitter is a free, open access social network with high potential to enhance interactive learning. The use of Twitter in dental education has been far less investigated; therefore, the objective of this systematic review is to explore the current uses and to examine the impact of Twitter on dental education, and to analyze and predict potential models of Twitter for future application in dental training, education, and teaching. Methods Five databases (PubMed, Embase, Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science) and the gray literature using keywords related to Twitter and dental education were searched. Articles were screened for inclusion, and two researchers independently extracted the data using a standardized data collection template and analyzed the quality of the included articles using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument. Results Of the 121 articles identified from the initial search, 68 remained after duplications were removed. Article screening removed 61 articles leaving 7 eligible for inclusion and data extraction. Five studies were cross‐sectional and two were cohort studies, and all involved survey‐based designs with 998 respondents in total. Quality assessment gave a score range between 8 and 12.5 out of a total of 18 points. Conclusions Our study supports the potential for Twitter as a useful learning tool in dental education. Features, including the open access nature of Twitter as well as the low level of ads and free registration, make it appealing to students as well as a useful tool for interactive learning. However, there are significant barriers to its use, including privacy and concerns about professionalism. Higher quality and greater impact research is required.

The present in vitro study sought to determine the effects of myrrh-containing solutions on common suture materials used in periodontal surgery. Three commonly used suture materials (silk, polyglactin 910, polytetrafluoroethylene) were immersed in four thermostatically controlled experimental media to simulate daily oral rinsing activity, namely -artificial saliva, normal saline solution with 0.2% Commiphora myrrh, full-concentration (100%) Commiphora myrrh oil, and a myrrh-containing commercial mouthwash. Tensile strength was measured at the end of each day using an Instron tensile testing machine. Silk sutures were susceptible to tensile strength loss when exposed to 0.2% myrrh solution once daily for 5 days. Myrrh-containing commercial mouthwash had no effect on tensile strength, but all three suture materials lost tensile strength when exposed to 100% myrrh oil. For patients that routinely use myrrh mouthwashes postoperatively, findings of this study suggested that silk sutures might not be the optimal material choice.

Dental implants with surface-porous designs have been recently developed. Clinically, peri-implant bone grafting is expected to promote early osseointegration and bone ingrowth when applied with surface-porous dental implants in challenging conditions. The aim of this study was to comparatively analyze peri-implant bone healing around solid implants and surface-porous implants with and without peri-implant bone grafting, using biomechanical and histomorphometrical assessment in a goat iliac bone model. A total of 36 implants (4.1 mm wide, 11.5 mm long) divided into three groups, solid titanium implant (STI; n = 12), porous titanium implants (PTI; n = 12) and PTI with peri-implant bone grafting using biphasic calcium phosphate granules (PTI + BCP; n = 12), were placed bilaterally in the iliac crests of six goats. The goats were sacrificed seven weeks post-operatively and then subjected to biomechanical (n = 6 per group) and histomorphometrical (n = 6 per group) assessment. The biomechanical assessment revealed no significant differences between the three types of implants. Although the peri-implant bone-area (PIBA%) measured by histomorphometry (STI: 8.63 ± 3.93%, PTI: 9.89 ± 3.69%, PTI + BCP: 9.28 ± 2.61%) was similar for the three experimental groups, the percentage of new bone growth area (BGA%) inside the porous implant portion was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the PTI group (10.67 ± 4.61%) compared to the PTI + BCP group (6.50 ± 6.53%). These data demonstrate that peri-implant bone grafting around surface-porous dental implants does not significantly accelerate early osseointegration and bone ingrowth.

Smart-card technology is believed to help healthcare industries in several ways, since it minimizes risks and medical errors, enables accurate patient identification, reduces administrative costs, improves efficiency, and facilitates prompt delivery of care to patients. The present study aims to highlight the adoption of a newly designed dental smart card for medically complex patients. The present smart card is an advance in patient identification, using a quick-response (QR) code to automatically report or receive certain types of responses from patients or physicians once illuminated by signals from QR readers. Further, the card provides general information about the patient’s condition and physical details. The card is pocket sized and can be carried easily by the patient anywhere, alongside a digital copy of the card.