Objective: : To evaluate the influence of an app-based approach in a protocol for domestic oral hygiene maintenance in a group of adolescent patients wearing fixed multibracket appliances. Materials and Methods: : Eighty adolescent patients scheduled to start an orthodontic multibracket treatment were randomly divided into two groups of 40. Plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), white spots (WS), and caries presence were recorded in all patients, and they were instructed regarding domestic oral hygiene maintenance on the day of braces application (t ₀ ) and every 3 months (t ₁ , t ₂ , t ₃ , t ₄ ) during the first year of treatment. Study group (SG) patients were enrolled in a WhatsApp chat room–based competition and instructed to share monthly with the other participants two self-photographs (selfies) showing their oral hygiene status. Results: : SG patient participation in the chat room was regular and active throughout the observation period. At t ₂ , t ₃ , and t ₄ , SG patients had significantly lower values of both PI and GI and a lower incidence of new WS and caries, compared with the control group. Conclusion: : Integration of new “social” technologies in a standard oral hygiene motivation protocol is effective in improving compliance of adolescent patients and in improving their oral health status during orthodontic multibracket treatment.

Background: The aims of this narrative review were to examine up-to-date literature in order to evaluate the effectiveness of arthrocentesis or injections with platelet-rich plasma in temporomandibular affections and to compare them to arthrocentesis alone or with hyaluronic acid (HA) or to hyaluronic acid injections. Methods: The search of international literature was made on the PMC, PubMed and Cochrane databases, including all full-length text of studies on humans focused on osteoarthritis and disc displacements and their treatment with platelet-rich plasma arthrocentesis or injections. All design studies were included in the review and they were examined for three different outcomes: pain, joint sound and mandibular motion. English papers were only selected. Results: Even though the low number of studies in this field, arthrocentesis with platelet-rich plasma and platelet-rich plasma injections in temporomandibular disorders’ management were found to be effective in reducing pain and joint sound as well as in improving mandibular motion in a maximum follow-up of 24 months. Conclusion: Comparison to arthrocentesis alone or to HA use in arthrocentesis or by injections provided encouraging results in terms of the effectiveness of platelet-rich plasma use.

Use of hyaluronic acid-based products has become a valuable alternative to drug-based approaches in the treatment of recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS). The presented study aimed to investigate the effect of a barrier forming hyaluronic acid containing mouth wash or a topical gel formulation on the healing of RAS and patient’s quality of life. For this single-center retrospective study, medical records of the Dental School of the University of Brescia were screened for adult and systemically health patients suffering from minor recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) and treated with either a barrier forming, hyaluronic acid containing mouth wash (GUM® AftaClear® rinse) or a topical gel (GUM® AftaClear® gel) in 2015. All patients fulfilling the in−/exclusion criteria and presenting full data sets on lesion diameter, lesion color, as well as pain perception for baseline (day 0) and 4 and 7 days after treatment were enrolled into the presented study. Out of 60 screened patients, a total of 20 patients treated with the Rinse formulation and 25 treated with the Gel formulation were eligible for the enrollment into this study. Both groups showed equal distribution in patient’s age, sex and presented a similar mean lesion size (3.0 ± 1.0 mm), lesion color distribution as well as pain perception at baseline. All patients showed significant normalization of lesion color, reduction of pain, and lesion dimension within the course of their treatment. After 7 days, the mean percentage of lesion reduction was highly significant for both groups attaining 77.4 ± 30.1% in the Rinse group and 81.2 ± 23.1% in the Gel group with a complete lesion closure obtained in 60 and 56% of the cases, respectively. However, a significant (p < 0.05) higher percentage of lesions in the Gel group (72%) compared to the Rinse group (40%) showed an improvement in lesion size already after 3 days. Within the limitation of retrospective design, it can be concluded that both the barrier forming hyaluronic acid containing mouth rinse as well as the topical gel formulation are effective in the treatment of minor recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS), with a trend for an earlier healing onset for the topical Gel formulation.

Bisphosphonates are primary pharmacological agents against osteoclast-mediated bone loss and widely used in the clinical practice for prevention and treatment of a variety of skeletal conditions, such as low bone density and osteogenesis imperfecta, and pathologies, such as osteoporosis, malignancies metastatic to bone, Paget disease of bone, multiple myeloma, and hypercalcemia of malignancy. However, long-term bisphosphonate treatment is associated with pathologic conditions including osteonecrosis of the jaw, named BRONJ, which impaired bone regeneration process. Clinical management of BRONJ is controversy and one recent approach is the use of platelet concentrates, such as Concentrated Growth Factors, alone or together with biomaterials or antioxidants molecules, such as resveratrol. The aim of the present study was to investigate thein vitroeffects of Concentrated Growth Factors and/or resveratrol on the proliferation and differentiation of human osteoblasts, treated or not with bisphosphonates. Human osteoblasts were stimulated for 3 days in complete medium and for 21 days in mineralization medium. At the end of the experimental period, thein vitroeffect on osteoblast proliferation and differentiation was evaluated using different techniques such as MTT, ELISA for the quantification/detection of osteoprotegerin and bone morphogenetic protein-2, immunohistochemistry for sirtuin 1 and collagen type I, and the Alizarin Red S staining for the rate of mineralization. Results obtained showed that Concentrated Growth Factors and/or resveratrol significantly increased osteoblast proliferation and differentiation and that the cotreatment with Concentrated Growth Factors and resveratrol had a protective role on osteoblasts treated with bisphosphonates. In conclusion, these data suggest that this approach could be promised in the clinical management of BRONJ.

Purpose: To determine whether the use of social media is useful in improving compliance and follow-up attendance among patients wearing retainers after orthodontic treatment. Patients and methods: Sixty post-orthodontic patients (aged 16–19 years), randomized in two groups: follow-up supported by participation in WhatsApp chat group (SG), and Control Group (CG). All patients were scheduled for quarterly check-ups for monitoring of orthodontic stability by measurement of intercanine width at the beginning of the study (t₀) and every 4 months t₁, t₂, t₃) for 1 year of observation. Patients in the SG additionally participated in a WhatsApp chat group, where they would send, on a weekly basis, snapshots showing his/her occlusion. Every month, the orthodontist acting as the moderator awarded the best five snapshots by publishing a ranking in the chat. Results: Participants in the SG featured smaller changes from the intercanine widths at baseline (at debonding) compared to the CG patients at all times during 1 year of follow-up. Follow-up attendance was regular in both groups in the first 8 months of follow-up. After that, patient compliance decreased in the CG, with eight patients missing check-up appointments. Conclusion: Engaging adolescent patients directly through WhatsApp activity seems to increase regularity in wearing removable retainers, attendance to follow-up schedule, and yield better long-term outcome in terms of orthodontic stability and compliance.

Background and Objective: Dental fluorosis is a disease affecting dental hard tissues featured with white or yellowish lesions. Several treatments are proposed in the literature, some even invasive. This clinical study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of resin infiltration in terms of lesions resolution, trend of sensitive teeth and satisfaction of patients over time. Methods and Material: 200 fluorosis lesions were treated using ICON infiltrating resin (DMG, Hamburg, Germany). Parameters related to patients were collected by a questionnaire and analyzed aesthetic dissatisfaction about lesions, Shiff Air Index Sensitive Scale, sensitive teeth after treatment, the satisfaction of duration of treatment. The same operator measured dimensions of lesions Tooth Surface Index of Fluorosis (TSIF) and numbers of etching cycles needed for treating lesions. Statistical analysis was performed. The follow-up was of 1-year a measurement were performed at baseline (t0), immediately after the treatment (t1) and every three months during the observation period. Results: All lesions disappeared after one treatment. Pain or sensitive teeth were reported inside the 72 h and they disappeared after. Statistical analysis showed highly statistically correlation between etching cycles and the dimension of lesions and TSIF at the time-points evaluated as well as for pain during treatment, whereas a statistical significance was not noticed where etching cycles were correlated to sensitive teeth after 72 h. Overall, the treatment was found to be statistically significantly associated with differences in answers of aesthetic dissatisfaction between t0 and t1 and those collected between t1 and t2. Between t2 and t3 and between t3 and t4 no statistical differences were found in answers of patients about dissatisfaction, indicating the stability of the results. Conclusions: The ICON resin infiltration technique was found to be effective in lesions resolution with steady results.