The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of voxel size and artefact reduction (AR) on the identification of vertical root fractures (VRFs) in endodontically treated teeth. A total of a hund...

Teledentistry is a part of telemedicine and can be used for dental diagnosis, dental care, consultation, and dental education. The objective of this study was to assess the awareness, knowledge, and attitudes of undergraduate dental students toward teledentistry, as well as to investigate the influence of enrolling in a teledentistry course on these variables. A structured questionnaire-based online survey (Google Form) was used as the survey tool to evaluate the undergraduate dental students’ awareness, knowledge, and attitudes towards teledentistry. All undergraduate dental students during the 2022–2023 academic year, were invited to join this questionnaire. The questionnaire was posted to the students who agreed to answer the survey online. Associations between categorical variables were evaluated using the Pearson Chi-square test or Fisher-Freeman-Halton Exact test. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare two independent groups, and the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare more than two independent groups. All analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0 (IBM Corp. Released 2015, Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). The significance level was set at p < 0.05 for all analyses. Explanatory factor analysis and item analysis were used for the evaluation of the validity of the questionnaire. There were 293 participants from five classes, with a 36.08% response rate; 190 (64.8%) were female and 103 (35.2%) were male, with a median age of 21 years (minimum 17 years, maximum 44 years). In this study, 37.9% of the participants had heard of teledentistry, 30.7% knew what teledentistry is, approximately one-third of the students were aware that there is a course called teledentistry in our faculty, and only 11.6% took the course. Undergraduate dental students had high levels of knowledge and awareness about the advantages and limitations of teledentistry. Dental students who had taken the course had a more positive attitude towards using teledentistry. Enhancing dental students’ knowledge and awareness of teledentistry could beneficially influence their utilization of teledentistry in their future careers. This study is not a clinical trial involving medicinal products or therapeutic interventions, so the clinical trial number is not applicable.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) continues to affect dental emergency services worldwide. Dental anxiety (DA) is described as a common and distressing problem in terms of oral health maintenance. The present study aimed to evaluate DA levels as well as the COVID‑19 fear and perception of control (COVID‑19 FPC) in patients attending dental emergency clinics during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Sociodemographic, dental and medical data was obtained from the participants. A face-to-face questionnaire with questions referring to the reasons for the emergency dental visit, the visual pain scale, the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS), and the COVID‑19 Fear and Perception of Control Scale (COVID‑19 FPCS) as well as additional questions concerning bruxism and a previous diagnosis of anxiety/panic attacks or depression was administered. The χ2 test was used to analyze the data. A total of 1,439 patients were included in the study. The most common reason for the dental visit was pain (47.5%). The prevalence of DA was 5.1% (74/1,439). A significant association was found between DA and gender (p = 0.020). The incidence of severe pain was higher in patients with DA than in those without DA (p = 0.002). No significant differences in the MDAS scores were found between patients with and without a chronic disease (p = 0.804), with regard to the educational status (p = 0.364), or between the age groups (p = 0.600). The prevalence of a 'strongly agree' response to all questions in COVID‑19 FPCS was higher in patients with DA as compared to those without DA. Females and patients with severe pain were more likely to exhibit DA. In general, patients with DA strongly agreed with the statements of COVID‑19 FPCS, which may indicate a correlation between the 2 scales.

Background: Teeth can be a reasonable part of sex estimation in case of being the single evidence available or in doubt although they are not as accurate as bones in sex estimation. The size of teeth is greater in males than in females. In this study, it was aimed to determine cut-off values of the tooth volume (TV) and root volume (RV) of the maxillary canines and to evaluate the validity of the method for discriminating between males and females. Methods: Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images of 250 individuals aged 18 to 63 years with equal age and sex distribution were assessed retrospectively. The sample divided into reference set including 168 images of 84 females and 84 males and validation set including 82 images of 48 females and 34 males. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and Youden’s index were used to determine cut-off values of the volumetric measurements and to test the discriminative performance of the method. Results: The optimal cut-off values of TV ≥ 581 mm³ and RV ≥ 334 mm³ for estimating sex were established from the reference set. The sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), and accuracy (Ac) were 0.77 for TV ≥ 581 mm³ while they were 0.82, 0.77, and 0.79 for RV ≥ 334 mm³. When we tested the previously derived cut-off values of TV of the maxillary canine, the Se, Sp, and Ac were found to be respectively 0.71, 0.90, and 0.82 for TV ≥ 619 mm³ and 0.97, 0.27, and 0.56 for TV ≥ 510 / 460 mm³ (right/left). Conclusions: The identified cut-off values of TV and RV of the maxillary canines can be used to estimate sex with moderate accuracy when the only evidence available is teeth or in case of doubt. The method’s applicability should be assessed for different populations.

Amaç: Bu çalışmanın amacı, hareketli protez kullanımına bağlı gelişen oral mukoza lezyonları ile protez tipi veya hastalara ait bireysel özellikler arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesidir. Gereç ve Yöntem: Hareketli protez kullanan 199 hastanın yaş, cinsiyet, protez tipi, genel sağlık ve ilaç kullanım durumları ile klinik muayene sırasında saptanan protezle ilişkili oral mukoza lezyonları (POML), lokalizasyonları ve hastaların bu durumun farkında olup olmadıkları kaydedildi. POML ile protez tipi ve hastalara ait bireysel özellikler arasında ilişkinin incelenmesi için Pearson ki-kare testi kullanıldı. Bulgular: Çalışmaya dahil edilen hastaların 122’si (%61.3) kadın, 77’si (%38.7) erkekti. Protez kullanan 96 (%48.2) hastada POML’ye rastlandı, 103 (%51.8) hastada ise POML saptanmadı. POML ile yaş ve cinsiyet arasında ilişki bulunmadı (p>0.05). En sık rastlanan POML tipi protez stomatiti idi (%34 . 7). Protez stomatiti parsiyel protez kullanan hastalarda (p<0.05), epulis fissuratum ve mesnetsiz kret ise total protez hastalarında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı şekilde daha fazla bulundu (p<0.001). Travmatik ülserlerin alt total protez kullanan hastalarda (p<0.05), epulis fissuratum ve mesnetsiz kretin, üst total protez kullanan hastalarda görülme sıklığı anlamlı olarak daha yüksek bulundu (p<0.001). POML’lerin mevcut olduğu hastaların %57.3’ü bu lezyonların farkında olmadıklarını ifade ettiler. Sonuç: Örneklemimizde hareketli protez kullanan hastalarda yüksek oranda (%48.2) POML mevcut olduğu ve POML saptanan hastaların da yarıdan fazlasının bu durumun farkında olmadıkları belirlenmiştir. Bu bulgular doğrultusunda hareketli protez kullanan hastaların protez kullanımına ilişkin önerilerin uygulanmasına ve düzenli kontrollerin önemine dair bilinçlendirilmesi gerektiği düşünülmektedir.

Amaç: Bu çalışmanın amacı oral ülserler ve rekürrent aftöz stomatit ile ilgili hastalara bilgi vermek amacıyla hazırlanmış internet sitelerinin içerik kalitesi ve okunabilirlik yönünden incelenmesidir. Gereç ve Yöntem: Google, Yandex ve Bing arama motorlarında “aft”, “ağız ülseri”, “tekrarlayan ağız yaraları” ve “ağızda tekrarlayan aftlar” anahtar kelimeleri ile yapılan arama sonuçları arasından sağlıkla ilgili kurum ve kuruluşlara ait hasta bilgilendirme amaçlı siteler seçilmiştir. Çalışmaya dahil edilen internet sitelerinin içerik kalitesinin incelemesi JAMA ve DISCERN kriterleri, okunabilirlik değerlendirmesi ise Ateşman ve Bezirci-Yılmaz formülleri kullanılarak yapılmıştır. Bulgular: Bu çalışmaya 51 adet internet sitesi dahil edilmiştir. İncelenen sitelerin hiçbirinde dört JAMA kriterinin tümü birden karşılanmamış ve sitelerin tamamında bilgi kaynaklarının belirtilmediği saptanmıştır. İnternet sitelerinin %22’sinde üç JAMA kriteri sağlanırken, %12’sinde hiçbir kriter karşılanmamıştır. DISCERN genel değerlendirme puanının ortancası 2 (1-4) olarak bulunmuştur. Ortanca okunabilirlik değerleri; Ateşman formülüne göre 54.20 (21-68) ve Bezirci-Yılmaz formülüne göre 11.99 (8-25) bulunmuştur. Sonuç: Oral ülser ve rekürrent aftöz stomatit ile ilgili internet sitelerinde sunulan bilgilendirme metinlerinin çoğu güvenilir değildir ve okunabilirlik düzeyi genel popülasyon için zordur. Sağlık bilgilendirme materyallerinin güvenilirlik kriterlerine ve okunabilirlik düzeyinin kolay olmasına dikkat edilerek hazırlanması hastaların etkin kullanımı için yararlı olacaktır.