Background and Objective: This study aimed to examine the prevalence of dental fear among schoolchildren in Bosnia and Herzegovina, analyze the distribution of dental anxiety by gender, age, and place of residence in relation to perceived sources of fear, and evaluate its association with oral health status. Materials and Methods: The sample included 355 schoolchildren between the ages of 12 and 15. Data were gathered using a self-assessment questionnaire, a brief clinical oral examination, and the Children’s Fear Survey Schedule–Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS). Results: Clinical examinations showed that 87.61% of the children had dental caries, with a mean DMFT score of 3.75 (SD = 2.93). The prevalence of dental caries was significantly higher in the older group compared to the younger group (p < 0.01). Dental fear was present in 21.7% of the children, with a mean total CFSS-DS score of 27.50 (SD = 13.85). The most feared aspect among the children was “Choking” (73.8%), followed by “Injections” (63.7%) and “The noise of the dentist drilling” (52.1%). Children with dental fear had a significantly greater number of decayed and missing teeth, higher DMFT scores, and poorer gingival health and oral hygiene compared to those without dental fear (p < 0.01), even after adjusting for sociodemographic factors. Conclusions: The study found a moderate level of dental fear among Bosnian schoolchildren, with younger children and those from urban areas showing more fear of injections. It also showed a consistent link between dental anxiety and clinical factors such as caries, gum disease, and oral hygiene, even after adjusting for sociodemographic factors.

Choosing an appropriate prosthetic material for the superstructure of an implant-supported or tooth-implant supported fixed partial denture (FPD) is crucial for the success of the prostheses. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of prosthetic material type and tooth-to-implant support on stress distribution of FPDs using three-dimensional finite element analysis (3D FEA). Two FEA models were generated, distinguished by their support configurations: Model I representing an FPD supported by implants, and Model II depicting an FPD supported by both a tooth and an implant. Two different restorative materials, porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) and monolithic zirconia, were evaluated for stress distribution under axial and oblique loads of 300 N applied to the pontic. Under both axial and oblique loading conditions, the maximum von Mises stress values were observed to be higher in the implant-abutment complex of both zirconia implant-supported and tooth-implant-supported FPDs compared to PFM FPDs. In the case of axial loading, comparable stress values were found in the cortical bone for PFM (12.65 MPa) and zirconia implant-supported FPDs (12.71 MPa). The zirconia tooth-implant-supported FPD exhibited the highest stress values in the implant-abutment system.

The aim of this study is to investigate how hydrogen peroxide (HP) treatments affect enamel porosity and protein structure, as well as their impact on tooth shade and hardness over time. Fifty healthy teeth were collected from adult patients. Teeth were randomly divided into 2 groups, the first was incubated with 30 % HP while the second, the control group, was incubated with distilled water (DW). Tooth shade and enamel microhardness were evaluated using a digital spectrophotometer and a Vickers tester, respectively, at different time intervals after treatment. The specific surface area of the enamel was measured using a surface area analyzer and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) equation. Protein structure was analyzed using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Shade analysis revealed that, in the short term, HP treatment significantly increased lightness and Hue and decreased chroma compared to DW (p < 0.05); however, 1 week after treatment some of the initial gains in tooth lightness were partially lost. Hardness analysis revealed significant decreases in microhardness in the bleached group compared to the control group (p < 0.05). BET analysis revealed that HP treatment increased enamel surface area and reduced its average pore size. CD and DLS analyses showed that proteins from HP-treated teeth mostly adopted a non-random conformation and had smaller average protein sizes compared to the control. HP treatment lightened tooth shade and significantly reduced enamel microhardness over time. This could be related to changes in surface area and porosity caused by denaturalization of the enamel proteins. Our findings showed that HP induced denaturation of enamel proteins, resulting in increased enamel porosity and reduced microhardness. These changes in enamel properties could help explain clinical complications observed with these treatments such as increased sensitivity.

Introduction/Objective. This study was aimed at evaluating dentin permeability after irrigation with sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and final rinse with chlorhexidine (CHX), ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) + CHX, and new combination products: QMiX or MTAD. Methods. Roots of 60 maxillary incisors were randomly divided into five groups (n = 12) before instrumentation and irrigation with NaOCl according to the final irrigation regimen: CHX (2% CHX), EDTA + CHX (17% EDTA + 2% CHX), QMiX, MTAD, and control group (distilled water). After final irrigation, ten roots of each group were horizontally sectioned and dye penetration was evaluated in the coronal, middle, and apical thirds. Remaining samples were subjected to scanning electron microscopy. Data were analyzed with ANOVA/Tukey?s test. Results. Less dye penetration was found in CHX group compared with control as well as with QMiX and MTAD group in all thirds (p < 0.05). A significant difference between the control and EDTA + CHX, QMiX or MTAD group was observed only in the apical root third (p < 0.05). Conclusion. Dentin permeability was significantly reduced after final irrigation with CHX, but not after use of other final irrigation solutions, except in the apical third of the root canal.

White enamel discolorations are frequent and can impact patients' quality of life. Enamel hypoplasia is a condition that affects the quality of enamel, resulting in a change in its translucency and color. Minimally invasive procedures of the slightly altered enamel are an effective treatment for improving the esthetic appearance of tooth discoloration. They contribute to a greater longevity of teeth and prevent them from relapsing into the repetitive restorative cycle. Two case reports aimed to show a sequential technique of minimally invasive procedures for treating enamel hypoplasia in anterior teeth. The sequential technique consisted of three steps: anterior teeth were firstly bleached in office with 40% hydrogen peroxide (Opalescence™ Boost™, Ultradent Products Inc, South Jordan, UT, USA), then hypoplastic spots on the buccal incisal thirds of the maxillary central incisors were treated with two sessions of microabrasion using phosphoric acid (Ultra-Etch, Ultradent Produtos Inc, USA) and pumice stone and finally resin infiltrant (Icon, DMG, Germany) was applied on the buccal incisal thirds of teeth in one session. The proposed strategy was based on masking the lesion by infiltrating the porous subsurface enamel with a hydrophobic resin that has a refraction index closer to that of sound enamel, after permeating the non-porous surface enamel through hydrochloric acid erosion. The masking of hypoplastic spots was done with this sequence of treatments and reestablishing color harmony. However, the clinical success can vary depending on the depth of white spots, patient's oral hygiene habit and compliance with post-treatment care instructions.