Key words: dental calculus; urea; periodontal diseases; saliva

Objective. To identify DNA methylation patterns of heavy smokers in oral rinse samples. Methods. Genome-wide DNA methylation data was imported from Gene Expression Omnibus GSE70977 using the GEOquery package. Two independent sets were analyzed: (a) 71 epigenomes of cancer-free subjects (heavy smokers n = 37 vs. non-smokers n = 31); for concordance assessment (b) 139 oral-cancer patients’ epigenomes (heavy smokers n = 92 vs. non-smokers n = 47). Differential DNA methylation for CpG positions and at the regional level was determined using Limma and DMRcate Bioconductor packages. The linear model included sex, age, and alcohol consumption. The statistical threshold was set to p < 0.05. Functional gene prioritization analysis was performed for gene-targeted analysis. Results. In individuals without cancer and heavy smokers, the FAM184B gene was found with two CpG positions differentially hypermethylated (p = 0.012 after FDR adjustment), in a region of 48 bp with an absolute methylation difference >10% between groups (p = 1.76 × 10⁻⁸). In the analysis corresponding to oral-cancer patients, we found AHRR differentially hypomethylated cancer patients, but also in subjects without oral cancer in the targeted analyses. Remarkably, ADAMTS2 was found differentially hypermethylated in heavy smokers without a diagnosis of cancer in two consecutive probes cg05575921 (p = 3.13 × 10⁻⁷) and cg10208897 (p = 1.36 × 10⁻⁵). Conclusions: Differentially methylated AHRR, ADAMTS2, and FAM184B genes are biomarker candidates in oral rinse samples.

Objetivo: establecer las necesidades de tratamiento bucal y su influencia en la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud bucal en el adulto mayor. Materiales y métodos: se realizó un estudio de corte transversal en adultos mayores institucionalizados de seis hogares geriátricos del municipio de Floridablanca, Santander (Colombia). Se establecieron las necesidades de tratamiento según la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) y la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud bucal según la versión en español del Geriatric Oral Health Assesment Index(GOHAI). Se obtuvieron medidas de tendencia central y dispersión para las variables cuantitativas y proporciones para las cualitativas. También, se realizó un test de Chi2 o Exacto de Fisher según correspondiera. Un valor de p ≤ 0,05 fue considerado significativo. Resultados: de los 111 adultos mayores examinados, el 62,2% necesitaba tratamiento especial por su enfermedad sistémica. El 13,5%,requería intervención de tejidos con manejo clínico mientras que el 37,8% de la población necesitaba un tratamiento especial por flujo salival. El 44,4%, requería raspaje y alisado radicular a campo cerrado y un manejo preventivo con educación en higiene bucal en el 86,5%. Las frecuencias de auto percepción y calidad de vida no mostraron una asociación estadísticamente significativa. Conclusiones: las tres principales necesidades de tratamiento en su orden fueron: educación en higiene bucal, tratamiento especial por enfermedad sistémica y tratamiento periodontal. Las necesidades de tratamiento fueron más importantes en los pacientes con bajos puntajes de calidad de vida según el GOHAI, pero no se observó una diferencia estadísticamente significativa. ABSTRACT Objective: to assess the oral treatment needs and its effect on oral health related quality of life in older adult. Methods: a cross sectional study in six elderly nursing home care from the city of Floridablanca, Santander (Colombia) was done. Treatment needs were established according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the oral health related quality of life according to the Spanish version of the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). Measures of central tendency and dispersion for quantitative variables and proportions for qualitative ones were obtained. Chi2 test or Fisher’s Exact was used as appropriate. A value of p ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results: of the 111 seniors surveyed, 62.2% needed special treatment for systemic diseases. 13.5% required intervention by clinical management while 37.8% of the population needed special treatment for salivary flow. 44.4 % required deep scaling and root planning and oral hygiene education was needed in 86.5%. The frequencies of self-perception and oral health related quality of life did not show any statistically significant association.Conclusions: the three main treatment needs in their order were oral hygiene education, special treatment for systemic disease and periodontal treatment. Treatment needs were more important in patients with low quality of life scores according GOHAI but no statistically significant difference was observed.

The objective of this study was to examine the efficacy of massive open online courses (MOOCs) for implementing standardized training and teaching with respect to oral cancer among dental students and dentists. In a multicenter interventional randomized controlled trial, a total of 660 Colombian dental students and dentists were randomly assigned to one of three groups between September 2022 and August 2023 by means of the random number table method at ten different institutions involved in dental education. With a loss to follow-up rate of 25%, Group 1 consisted of 107 cases, Group 2 consisted of 177 cases, and the control group consisted of 164 cases. The control group did not receive training, whereas Group 1 received a leaflet, and Group 2 participated in a MOOC-based learning approach. The assessment results of the knowledge, attitudes, and practice scores were observed and compared among the three groups of participants before and 2 months after the intervention. Compared with the control group, Group 2 presented significantly higher scores for KAP ( P < 0.05). The group also showed greater improvements in terms of knowledge, attitudes, and practices ( P < 0.05) than did the control group. Additionally, the KAP scores of the students in Group 2 were significantly higher than those of the dentists. Group 2 also demonstrated a substantially greater size effect in KAP. The implementation of MOOC teaching was shown to positively affect standardized training and teaching related to oral cancer, thereby enhancing academic performance in this area. Trial registration: ISRCTN48708543.

Background: Periodontal disease is considered as a diabetes complication and has been suggested that periodontal treatment plus antibiotics should reduce glycated hemoglobin A, by reducing local production of pro inflammatory substances. Objective: To evaluate diabetic patients with periodontal disease under periodontal treatment plus topical antibiotics and reduction of HbA1c, compared to diabetic patients under periodontal treatment without antibiotics. Materials and Methods: Using PUBMED, SCOPUS, WEB OF SCIENCE, EMBASE and Google Scholar data bases, were screened documents from 2008 to 2018. The documents included were the clinical studies, which included non-surgical periodontal treatment plus topical antibiotics, whose outcomes included the HbA1c report. Two independent researchers evaluate title; abstract and bias risk with Downs Black scale and Cochrane tool. Documents with a score higher than 15 on average by the two evaluators were included. Results: Five articles, which find inclusion criteria, were identified. Two documents failed to demonstrate statistically significant effect when compared to non-surgical periodontal therapy alone. Conclusion: In general a modest reduction of HbA1c was identified when using antibiotic therapy.

Aim: To evaluate glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) before and after non-surgical periodontal treatment in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM-2). Methods: Twenty subjects diagnosed with periodontitis and DM-2 were treated using an NSPT protocol. Periodontal examination and blood measurements were performed at baseline and after three months. Patients with DM-2 treated for at least a year, with at least 10 teeth and with probing depths between 4-6 mm in more than three regions were included. The variables evaluated were HbA1c in blood and periodontal measures (probing depths, insertion level, gingival bleeding on probing, dental plaque, calculus, inflammation, clinical attachment and mobility). All patients were informed of the conditions of the therapy used. Scaling and root planning (SRP) of the full mouth was performed using an ultrasonic scaler and hand instrument under local anesthesia, supragingival prophylaxis and oral hygiene instruction. Also, 0.12% chlorhexidine digluconate was formulated twice a day for two weeks. Statistical analyses were performed using StataIC 14. The values are shown as the mean, median and standard deviation (SD) or interquartile rank (IR), and p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: Twenty subjects completed the three-month follow-up and were included in the analysis. Three months after the non-surgical periodontal treatment, most periodontal parameters had a meaningful reduction (p< 0.05) and a large effect size >0.8. Clinical attachment level showed no improvement. The HbA1c values were not significantly decreased (p=0.94). Conclusions: Although non-surgical periodontal therapy eliminates local inflammation, it is insufficient to significantly reduce HbA1c levels in a short time period.