Translating the determinant aspects on the study design in the dental implant field

Objective

In this article, we analyzed the important categories capable of interfering with the determinants of scientific advancement in the type of study, considering seven leading journals over a 20-year.

Methodology

A bibliometric review was performed at the website of well-established implant dentistry journals in five-time points defined to represent a 20-year period of observation. The measures associated with the type of study design were: the country of origin of the article, country income, continent of the corresponding author, inter-institutional collaboration, interdisciplinary collaboration, type of funding, and topic of research. Logistic regression was used in the multiple models to identify the exploratory factors associated with the type of study.

Results

From a total of 1,944 articles, 50.6% comprised clinical studies. High-income countries and continents stood out for developing more clinical research than others. Since research funders request more collaborative research, overall clinical studies depended upon more inter-institutional collaboration than the others. Most clinical studies were partly supported by research institutes or universities and by industry. About the research topic, the majority of the clinical and animal studies disclosed surgical procedures.

Conclusions

High-income countries and continents are more likely to develop clinical studies in the surgical procedures field. The highest collaborations in terms of the number of institutions and funding sources are more prevalent in clinical research designs. Indeed, most in vivo studies in dental implant fields are performed to evaluate new materials or even new surgical procedures.

Influence of Light-Curing Glaze and Chlorhexidine Gluconate in the Acrylic Resin Properties: An in situ Study

This in-situ study aimed to evaluate the chromatic stability, microhardness, and surfacefree energy of chemically activated acrylic resin (CAAR) samples. Eighty CAAR samples were made and each volunteer (n = 20) received two palatal plates with two sides of groups (without and with glaze application). The samples were exposed to two conditions: the control condition (sucrose 30%) and the test condition (sucrose 30% and 0.12% chlorhexidine). The volunteers used the first palatal device (control condition) for seven days and the second palatal device (test condition) for another seven days, with a seven-day break between them. Then, the ΔΕ00, microhardness, and surface-free energy tests were performed. Analysis of Variance and the Tukey test were used (α = 0.05). The control group with glaze showed higher ΔΕ00 compared to the group without the glaze. The test group with glaze had less ΔΕ00 than their respective controls. In both periods, when the glaze was applied, higher microhardness values were found for all groups. Groups with glaze showed lower roughness and higher surface-free energy than groups without the glaze. The values obtained in this study were satisfactory, showing the clinical efficacy of glaze and the use of 0.12% CH for maintaining the physical and mechanical properties of CAAR.

Mapping the trends and impact of research collaboration between countries in oral implantology publications: A bibliometric analysis from 1999 to 2019

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Scientific collaboration provides a suitable strategy for enhancing the exchange of knowledge and technological development. However, the impact of collaboration in oral implantology research between countries and how it has been influenced by the income status of the country has not been previously evaluated.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this bibliometric analysis was to evaluate how collaboration between countries affected oral implant publications and whether patterns of collaboration differ depending on the country's income.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Articles were retrieved from 7 well-established journals whose scope included oral implantology at 5 time points (1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019). Data were extracted, and descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed (α=.05).

RESULTS

A total of 1944 articles were included; of which, 27.5% presented collaboration between countries. In 2009, 2014, and 2019, collaboration between countries was more likely to occur than at previous time points (P≤.005). Corresponding authors with a higher h-index (P<.05) and authors from Europe and North America (P<.001) were more likely to establish international connections. The possibility of collaboration between countries was higher for animal studies (P<.001) and for articles published by Clinical Oral Implants Research (P=.026). Collaborations between high-income and upper-middle- or lower-middle-income countries were more likely to happen in 2014 and 2019 (P<.05), as well as when the number of authors was higher (P=.015), compared with collaboration between high-income countries. With regard to the continent, European articles were less likely to have collaborations with upper-middle- or lower-middle-income countries (P<.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings revealed that some parameters related to the study, authors, countries, and journals were statistically associated with the presence of collaboration between countries. However, the bibliometric parameters showed different trends when countries of different incomes established collaboration.

Is atomic layer deposition of silver possible on N95 masks?

Due to the COVID19 outbreak, there has been increasing interest in tailoring, modifying and improving conventional personal protective equipment to increase their service life and make them more effective against viruses and bacteria. Here, atomic layer deposition (ALD) was used to functionalize the filter of N95 mask with nano-islands of silver. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and x-ray absorption fine structure were used for ALD silver characterization; microbiological assay was conducted to study the effectiveness of the deposited silver against the air-borne pathogen Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Results showed that silver ALD successfully functionalized the N95 mask at 90 and 120 °C for two different numbers of ALD cycles (1100 and 1500 cycles). The deposited silver nano-islands were stable on the N95 filter media against washing. The leaching of silver nano-islands was studied using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry of phosphate-buffered saline solution after soaking the mask in it over predetermined times. <9% of Ag was removed after a maximum time of 4 h that was investigated. Antimicrobial tests showed that for samples functionalized with 1100 ALD cycles of Ag, 76% reduction in S. aureus colony-forming units content was observed after 24 h of biofilm development on the mask surfaces.

Association between industry support and the reporting of study outcomes in randomized clinical trials of dental implant research from the past 20 years

BACKGROUND

Industry support is a significant funding source in implant dentistry research, not only to provide regulatory processes, but also to validate and promote products through randomized clinical trials (RCTs). However, industry funding should not affect scientific outcomes.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is an association between industry support for RCTs in implant dentistry and a greater chance of the reporting of positive outcomes, and whether there are other funding tendencies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Randomized clinical trials from five implant dentistry journals were reviewed. Data were extracted, and descriptive and inferential statistical analyses (α = 0.05), including bivariate and multivariable logistic regression, and Spearman's correlation were performed.

RESULTS

Two hundred eleven RCTs were included. Industry-funded and -unfunded studies presented similar outcomes, in terms of positive and negative results (p ≥ 0.05). North American and European countries received more industry funding, as did high-income countries, which showed well-established collaboration with each other. Clinical Oral Implants Research and Clinical Implant Dentistry and Related Research published 83.6% of industry-funded articles. Industry-funded studies from middle-income countries established more international collaborations with high-income countries than did unfunded studies. Citation numbers were similar for funded and unfunded studies. The chance of RCTs being industry-funded was higher for high-income (odds ratio [OR] = 3.00; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99-9.32; p = 0.05) and North American articles (OR = 3.40; 95% CI, 1.37-8.42; p = 0.008) than in lower-middle-income and other continents, respectively. Higher industry funding was associated with specific topics such as "surgical procedures," "prosthodontics topics," and "implant macrodesign" (OR = 4.7; 95% CI, 1.45-15.20; p = 0.010) and with the increase in numbers of institutions (OR = 1.52; 95% CI, 1.16-2.0; p = 0.002).

CONCLUSION

The available evidence suggests no association between industry funding and greater chances of the reporting of positive outcomes in implant dentistry RCTs. A strong association was identified in industry trends concerning geographic origins, higher numbers of institutions, and specific research topics.

Análise Físico-Química e Resistência ao Cisalhamento de Zircônia em Cimentos Resinosos Após Tratamento com Plasma Não-Térmico e/ou Primer

O objetivo deste estudo foi caracterizar a superfície de Y-TZP tratadas com NTP, primer para ligas metálicas ou a associação entre esses dois métodos, e avaliar o efeito desses tratamentos na resistência de união entre Y-TZP e dois cimentos resinosos. Discos de Y-TZP foram distribuídos em cinco grupos: Co (sem tratamento), Pr (primer), NTP (plasma de metano), Pr + NTP e NTP + Pr. Os discos foram cimentados em substratos de resina composta utilizando Panavia F2.0 ou RelyX U200. As análises de resistência ao cisalhamento (n 10) foram realizadas antes e após termociclagem. Os dados foram submetidos à ANOVA um e três fatores e teste de Bonferroni (a0,05). NTP reduziu a energia de superfície e a rugosidade dos discos de Y-TZP. As análises de morfologia e químicas mostraram a presença da película fina orgânica, o que melhorou significativamente os resultados de resistência de ligação quando foi utilizado Rely X U200, enquanto que o tratamento com primer foi mais eficaz com Panavia F2.0. A termociclagem reduziu significativamente os resultados de resistência de união dos grupos NTP e Pr + NTP cimentados com Rely X U200 e os grupos Pr e NTP + Pr cimentados com Panavia F2.0. O plasma não térmico melhorou a união entre Rely X U200 e Y-TZP e também parece ser resistente à degradação hidrolítrica, enquanto que o Panavia F2.0 apresentou os maiores valores de união quando associado ao primer.Palavras-chave: Resistência ao Cisalhamento. Cimentos Resinosos. Plasma de Pressão Atmosférica Não-Térmica.

Comparison of stress distribution between complete denture and implant-retained overdenture-2D FEA

The aim of this study was to compare the stress distribution induced by posterior functional loads on conventional complete dentures and implant-retained overdentures with different attachment systems using a two-dimentional Finite Element Analysis (FEA-2D). Three models representative of edentulous mandible were constructed on AutoCAD software; Group A (control), a model of edentulous mandible supporting a complete denture; Group B, a model of edentulous mandible supporting an overdenture over two splinted implants connected with the bar-clip system; Group C, a model of edentulous mandible supporting an overdenture over two unsplinted implants with the O-ring system. Evaluation was conducted on Ansys software, with a vertical force of 100 N applied on the mandibular left first molar. When the stress was evaluated in supporting tissues, groups B (51.0 MPa) and C (52.6 MPa) demonstrated higher stress values than group A (10.1 MPa). Within the limits of this study, it may be concluded that the use of an attachment system increased stress values; furthermore, the use of splinted implants associated with the bar-clip attachment system favoured a lower stress distribution over the supporting tissue than the unsplinted implants with an O-ring abutment to retain the mandibular overdenture.