Polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) is a new evolving polymeric material. The present article comprehensively reviewed an overview of various applications of PEKK in prosthodontics and oral implantology, highlighting its prospects for clinical applications. PEKK biomaterials is an elastic material with good shock absorbance and fracture resistance and present ultra-high performance among all thermoplastic composites for excellent mechanical strength, chemical resistance, and high thermal stability. Available articles on PEKK for dental applications were reviewed from January 1957 to August 2020) using MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect resources. PEKK presents suitable physical, mechanical, and chemical properties for applications in prosthodontics and oral implantology. PEKK has good potential for a wide range of dental applications, including tooth restorations, crowns, bridge, endoposts, denture framework, implant-supported fixed prosthesis, and dental implants. PEKK dental implants have shown lesser stress shielding compared to titanium for dental implant applications. Further modifications and improving material properties can result in broader applications in the field of dentistry. Long term evaluations are needed as PEKK is recently applied in dentistry, and there are limited studies published on PEKK.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small, membrane‐enclosed vesicles released by cells into the extracellular milieu. They are found in all body fluids and contain a variety of functional cargo including DNA, RNA, proteins, glycoproteins and lipids, able to provoke phenotypic responses in cells, both locally and at distant sites. They are implicated in a wide array of physiological and pathological processes and hence have attracted considerable attention in recent years as potential therapeutic targets, drug delivery vehicles and biomarkers of disease. In this review we summarise the major functions of EVs in health and disease and discuss their translational potential, highlighting opportunities of – and challenges to – capitalising on our rapidly increasing understanding of EV biology for patient benefit. image

To compare oral hygiene practices and self-reported oral health problems among smoker and non-smoker male high school students in Dammam, Al-khobar and Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Cross sectional study design was employed. The study sample (453) was calculated and participants were randomly selected from public high schools. Pilot tested questionnaire was distributed among participants of the study. Descriptive and analytical statistics generated using SPSS version 22. Statistical significance involved using a p-value of <0.05. The prevalence of smoking among teenagers (15–19 years) was about 20.2%. Almost 61.9% (197) of non-smokers had excellent grades compared to 42% (33) of smokers. About 64.5% (258) of the respondents used tooth brushing and 62.5% (244) used miswak and 23.6% (91) of them visited dentist for regular checkup. The comparison of oral hygiene practices between smokers and non-smokers revealed no statistically significant differences. Almost half of the teenagers had bleeding gums and tooth sensitivity, and were dissatisfied with the appearance of their teeth. Self-reported tooth sensitivity was higher among smokers (64%) compared with non-smokers (43%) (p-value 0.001). Similarly, more smokers exhibited dryness of mouth than non-smokers and the difference was statistically significant (p-value 0.007). There is high prevalence of smoking among adolescents. No significant differences were observed between smokers and non-smokers regarding oral hygiene practices. However, tooth sensitivity and dryness of mouth were more common in smokers than non-smokers. Smoking cessation programs should be introduced in schools.

Background/Objective: This study evaluated the diagnostic performance of vertical growth patterns and mandibular morphology, alongside the anteroposterior dysplasia indicator (APDI), for classifying skeletal malocclusions in a Saudi adult population using cephalometric analysis. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional discriminatory performance study analyzed 162 archived lateral cephalometric radiographs of Saudi adults aged 18–44 years. The assessed variables included Frankfort-mandibular plane angle (FMA), gonial angle, ANB angle, and APDI. Statistical analysis involved descriptive statistics, ANOVA with post hoc testing, Pearson correlation, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Significant differences among skeletal classes were observed for all evaluated variables (p < 0.05). APDI showed the largest effect size and the highest diagnostic performance, particularly for Class III malocclusion, with excellent discriminatory ability reflected by area under the curve (AUC) values, high sensitivity, and acceptable specificity at optimal cutoff points. FMA showed moderate discriminatory performance, with higher specificity but limited sensitivity, while the gonial angle exhibited comparatively weaker diagnostic performance. In logistic regression analysis, APDI was the only significant independent associated variable of Class II malocclusion. Conclusions: Within the ANB-based classification framework used in this study, APDI showed the highest discriminatory performance for skeletal malocclusion classification, supporting its role as a primary sagittal indicator. FMA contributed adjunctive information on vertical skeletal pattern, while the gonial angle showed limited diagnostic value. Combined assessment of sagittal and vertical parameters may improve cephalometric diagnosis.