A quantitative study on the impact of educational modules on the awareness of postural ergonomics among the dental clinical trainees of Jouf University: A North Saudi Arabian Cohort

This research aimed to evaluate the difference between self-reported and actual work postures among dental clinical trainees and the effect of health education on their ergonomic postures. Bad postures induce fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, errors, a negative attitude, and job dissatisfaction. It is necessary to evaluate the awareness of posture ergonomics among clinical trainees as the bad postures captured during their learning years transform into habits that could affect future productivity. Hence, a three-level quantitative study was conducted among the dental trainees at Jouf University, Saudi Arabia. The first level comprised a self-reported survey and an observational study to record the working postures of the participants. At the second level, appropriate health education is customized based on the findings observed at the first level. An unannounced observational study was conducted at the third level to assess the impact of ergonomic education on the working postures of the participants. Gender and the academic year level of the participants were the variables considered in the study. The study found that the participants overrated their correct postures (P = 0.005). Fortunately, the final post-ergonomic education observations found a significant improvement in work posture (8.6 vs 12.4), regardless of the variables considered in the study (P = 0.001). The three best correct postures were placing the feet resting on the floor (52.6 vs 92.8 %), using the seat of a dental chair (57.9 vs 89.5 %), and using an upright position of the legs at the thigh-to-leg angle (53.9 % vs 86.2 %). Therefore, the study emphasizes the importance of training in ergonomics and regular, periodic observation to eradicate bad postures before they become a habit among young dentists.

Early Assessment of Impact of Increased Value Added Tax on Smoking Behaviors and Financing among Adult Smokers in Saudi Arabia

Background

Cigarette smoking has been identified as most perilous risk factor for several health ailments. Increased price may discourage smoking habits. There is limited literature available on impact of price rise on smoking behaviors in Saudi Arabia, which is the fourth largest importer of cigarettes and this study assessed the impact of tax increase (in 2020) on smoking behaviors.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was carried out between July 2021 and December 2021.i.e.one year after new value added tax (VAT) system came into force. Data was collected with 14-item pretested questionnaire from 721 adult smokers in Al-Jouf Region of Saudi Arabia selected through stratified cluster ransom sampling. We measured effects of tax increase on smoking behaviors, its impact on decision to quit and perceived health improvements as outcome variables.

Results

Nearly 40% of the respondents said that increased price lead them to smoke less number of cigarettes per day (P=0.000), decreased smoking improved their health in terms of breathing capacity, mood, ability to exercise and sleep in hierarchy. 67.4% of the participants are currently thinking of quitting smoking due to increased prices (P=0.001) and logistic regression models identified reduced smoking due to tax rise (Odds=5.68), improvement in health (Odds=2.94) and excess spending of above 20% (Odds=1.72) significantly associated with intentions to quit smoking.

Conclusion

Increased price of cigarettes due to VAT significantly decreased smoking behaviors and has impact on smokers' decision to quit smoking. Future studies needed to assess the long-term effect of increased tax on smoking behaviors and its relapse.

COVID-19 prevalence and infection control practices among dentists in Andhra Pradesh State, India

BACKGROUND

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic posed a new challenge not only to public health but also to the health care systems and dentists are one of the highly vulnerable health care professionals for COVID-19 infection.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the COVID-19 prevalence, associated factors, and infection control practices among dentists in Andhra Pradesh State, IndiaMETHODS:A cross-sectional web-based questionnaire survey was conducted among dentists in Andhra Pradesh state, India. 21-item pretested questionnaire was used for data collection between January 30, 2021 and February 21, 2021. 3700 dentists from the Andhra Pradesh state were selected from the Dentists Register of India through systematic random sampling method.

RESULTS

Out of 3700 dentists invited to participate in this study, responses from 1876 dentists were received with response rate of 51%. Prevalence of 8 among the study population was 9%. Patients were the primary source of infection for 60.5% of the COVID-19 positive study participants. 65.8% of total respondents using full face shield and two-third of them using N-95 or equivalent mask while providing dental care.

CONCLUSION

This study found a high prevalence rate of COVID 19 among the dentists. Among the associated factors, being into active practice during the pandemic was found to be statistically significant. This study recommend for additional infection control protocols specific to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rate of compliance with infection control practices while taking dental radiographs in a dental health care center, Saudi Arabia

Background:

Infection control guidelines are aimed at preventing cross-contamination in clinical settings. Radiographs are indispensible part of oral diagnosis and assessing prognosis. Strict adherence to infection control protocol while taking dental radiographs are mandatory.

Aims and Objectives:

To assess the rate of compliance with infection control practices while taking dental radiographs in the dental clinic center of a teaching institution in Saudi Arabia.

Materials and Methods:

An observational study was undertaken for the infection control practices in the dental radiology wing of a university teaching center in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected from dental faculty, dental assistants, and dental students working in dental clinics. Both pretested questionnaire and by direct observation of infection control practices was used for data collection. Chi-Square test for categorical variables and Independent samples t-test for compare mean self-reported infection control practice scores were used. Binary logistics regression was used to identify the factors influencing participant's compliance with infection control practices. P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results:

129 participants were included in this study, among those 26 were faculty, 19 were dental auxiliaries and 84 were dental students. On direct observation, the overall compliance rate was 79.5%; Dental auxiliaries have the highest compliance rate (94.5%) followed by dental faculty (88.5%) and students (68.6%). Binomial logistic regression predicted that females had 2.94 times more compliance than male counterparts, which is statistically significant.

Conclusion:

Students and faculty need continuing dental education programs for reinforcement on infection control practices.

Effect of probiotic bacteria on oral Candida in head- and neck-radiotherapy patients: A randomized clinical trial

Objective

The aim of the study is to assess the effect of probiotic bacteria on oral Candida counts in cancer patients who are undergoing head- and neck-radiotherapy in a tertiary care center.

Study Design

The study was a randomized clinical trial including 90 patients who just completed head- and neck-radiotherapy.

Materials and Methods

Participants were randomly allocated into three equal sized groups, i.e., probiotics group, candid group, and combination groups. Oral rinse samples of the patients were collected before and after the intervention for the identification of Candida. The samples were incubated on Sabouraud's Dextrose Agar with Chloramphenicol at 37°C for 48 h, to assess the counts of colony-forming units/milliliter (CFU/ml) of Candida in saliva, and further on chrome agar plates to identify the Candida spp. Data were analyzed using mixed ANOVA to compare mean CFU/ml of Candida among three groups before and after the intervention.

Results

A total of 86 patients were included in the final analysis and there was a statistically significant reduction in mean Candida spp. Counts (CFU/ml) after intervention in all the three groups (P = 0.000) and significant reductions identified in both probiotic and combination therapy groups. Apart from reduction in Candida albicans, significant decrease in Candida glabrata and Candida tropicalis was observed after probiotics usage compared to other groups.

Conclusions

The present study suggests that probiotic bacteria were effective in reducing oral Candida spp which can be recommended alone or in combination with traditional antifungal agents for effective reduction in oral Candida in head- and neck-radiotherapy patients.

Relation between Clinical Oral Dryness Score and Denture Satisfaction among Patients' in a Tertiary Care Centre, India

INTRODUCTION

Xerostomia is a subjective feeling of dryness commonly seen in elderly populations which impairs the quality of life. Due to loss of lubricating property of saliva the buccal mucosa, tongue and lips tend to stick leading to dry, freckled, ulcerated and sore mucosa which is of major concern to the patient to use complete denture.

AIM

The aim of the study was to assess the relation between oral dryness score and denture satisfaction among elderly patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted in prosthodontics department of a dental institution. Patients wearing dentures for at least six months were invited to participate in study. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) with scores ranging from 0-100 was used to assess patient's satisfaction and clinical oral dryness score was assessed using the criteria described by Osailan SM et al., with scores ranging from 0-10. Data was analysed with SPSS software (version-20) and Kendall's tau-b correlation was used to determine the relationship between mean denture satisfactions and mean clinical oral dryness scores.

RESULTS

A total of 220 participants were included in the study based on inclusion criteria. Mean dryness score of the participants was 1.8±0.6 and mean VAS-score for denture satisfaction was 74.32±21.20 for aesthetics, for chewing ability the mean score was 62.31±19.64 and for phonetics it was 67.82±30.60. Strong negative correlation between VAS-scores and oral dryness scores was observed.

CONCLUSION

Clinical oral dryness score is one of the important factors which influence denture satisfaction. Dentist should consider in predicting prognosis.

Biological impact of low dose-rate simulated solar particle event radiation in vivo

C57Bl6-lacZ animals were exposed to a range of low dose-rate simulated solar particle event (sSPE) radiation at the NASA-sponsored Research Laboratory (NSRL) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Peripheral blood was harvested from animals from 1 to 12 days after total body irradiation (TBI) to quantify the level of circulating reticulocytes (RET) and micronucleated reticulocytes (MN-RET) as an early indicator of radiation-induced genotoxicity. Bone marrow lymphocytes and hippocampal tissues from each animal were collected at 12 days and up to two months, to evaluate dose-dependent late effects after sSPE exposure. Early hematopoietic changes show that the % RET was reduced up to 3 days in response to radiation exposure but recovered at 12 days postirradiation. The % MN-RET in peripheral blood was temporally regulated and dependant on the total accumulated dose. Total chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes increased linearly with dose within a week after radiation and remained significantly higher than the control values at 4 weeks after exposure. The level of aberrations in the irradiated animals returned to control levels by 8 weeks postirradiation. Measurements of chromosome 2 and 8 specific aberrations indicate that, consistent with conventional giemsa-staining methods, the level of aberrations is also not significantly higher than in control animals at 8 weeks postirradiation. The hippocampus was surveyed for differential transcriptional regulation of genes known to be associated with neurogenesis. Our results showed differential expression of neurotrophin and their associated receptor genes within 1 week after sSPE exposure. Progressive changes in the profile of expressed genes known to be involved in neurogenic signaling pathways were dependent on the sSPE dose. Our results to date suggest that radiation-induced changes in the hematopoietic system, i.e., chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes, are transient and do not persist past 4 weeks after radiation. On the other hand, alteration in the profile of genes known to be involved in neurotrophic functions in the hippocampal tissue appears to persist for up to 8 weeks after radiation exposure. Such temporal changes confirm that, although cytogenetic changes after a single dose of low-dose and low-dose-rate protons appear to be transient, the impact of this exposure is sufficient to lead to persistent dynamic changes in neuronal tissues long after the initial radiation exposure.

Electrochemical pilot scale study for reduction of 2,4-DNT

An electrochemical pilot scale reactor was used to treat simulated munitions wastewater containing 100 mg/L of 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT). Experiments were conducted by using a glassy carbon (zero porosity) coated graphite cylinder as the cathode and a platinum wire as the anode. All experiments were conducted under dissolved oxygen concentration of less than 1.5 mg/L. Initially, simulating batch conditions were conducted to obtain the optimum operating conditions for the reactor. During this batch-mode study, the effects of various parameters such as applied current, electrolyte concentration, and type of electrolyte on the reduction of DNT were evaluated. Results obtained showed that the rates of reduction of DNT increased with an increase in current or concentration of electrolyte. Based on the results obtained from the batch simulation experiments, continuous flow experiments were conducted at three different currents. The ionic strength of the feed solution was maintained at 0.027 M. A current of 200 mA was found to provide a stable reduction of DNT at the 80% level for a period of 14 days after which reactor cleaning is necessary for removal of solids that were formed within the reactor. End products determined for the continuous flow experiments showed 100% molar balance conversion.