This study documents results of SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of environmental surfaces and personal protective equipment surrounding 3 COVID-19 patients in isolation rooms in a Singapore hospital.
Introduction: Spontaneous brain abscess and intracranial empyema are rare but life-threatening diseases. They can result from potential complications of oral chronic infections. Given the similarity between most of the germs commonly found both in cerebral abscess and in oral cavity and its anatomic proximity, the oral cavity represents a major source of cerebral infections.
Presentation of cases: We report here a series of seven cases of intracranial abscesses and empyema due to dental pathogens that occurred in the neurosurgery department of our institute. Five of those seven cases were then cared in the oral surgery department of our institute.
Discussion: Bacteriological examination of the brain abscesses identified an oral commensal bacterium belonging to streptococci group in six patients (85.7%) and Porphyromonas Gingivalis, a pathogen oral germ involved in periodontal diseases in the seventh patient. For all patients examined, oral status and oral health were poor or moderate with the presence of dental caries, missing teeth and abundant dental plaque. Except the oral cavity, no other front door or infectious site were found.
Conclusion: This rare series of cases highlights the importance of systematically explore the oral cavity in presence of intracranial infection and to radically eradicate the potential infectious foci.
Background/purpose: To assess how the current COVID-19 epidemic influenced peoples’ utilization of emergency dental services in Beijing, China.
Methods: The first-visit patients seeking emergency dental services before or at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic were retrieved. Their demographic characteristics and the reasons for visiting were recorded and analyzed.
Results: There were 2,537 patients involved in this study. Thirty-eight percent fewer patients visited the dental urgency at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic than before. The distribution of dental problems has changed significantly. The proportion of dental and oral infection raised from 51.0% of pre-COVID-19 to 71.9% during COVID-19, and dental trauma decreased from 14.2% to 10.5%. Meanwhile, the non-urgency cases reduced to three-tenths of pre-COVID-19.
Conclusion: Within the limitation of this study, the COVID-19 epidemic had a strong influence on the utilization of emergency dental services.
Over the past 75 years, health authorities have declared that community water fluoridation-a practice that reaches over 400 million worldwide-is safe. Yet, studies conducted in North America examining the safety of fluoride exposure in pregnancy were nonexistent. When a Canadian study reported that higher fluoride exposure in pregnant women was associated with lower IQ scores in young children, critics attacked the methodology of the study and discounted the significance of the results. Health authorities continued to conclude that fluoride is unequivocally safe, despite four well-conducted studies over the last 3 years consistently linking fluoride exposure in pregnancy with adverse neurodevelopmental effects in offspring. We describe the challenges of conducting fluoride research and the overt cognitive biases we have witnessed in the polarized fluoride debate. The tendency to ignore new evidence that does not conform to widespread beliefs impedes the response to early warnings about fluoride as a potential developmental neurotoxin. Evolving evidence should inspire scientists and health authorities to re-evaluate claims about the safety of fluoride, especially for the fetus and infant for whom there is no benefit.
The recent COVID-19 pandemic and state’s “Shelter in place” guidelines have restricted patient’s access to dental services, including oral medicine, as well as continuity of clinical education for oral medicine residents. This has required immediate attention from clinicians and educators.
The novel COVID-19 came under limelight few months back (December 2019) and has recently been declared a pandemic by WHO. It has resulted in serious financial implications being faced by dental practices, hospitals and healthcare workers. Dental practice currently is restricted to provision of emergency dental care whereas, many hospitals have also cancelled elective procedures to save finances for COVID-19 treatment which is expensive and unpredictable. In addition, healthcare workers are also facing financial challenges in this difficult time. Competent authorities should step in to help dental practices, hospitals and healthcare workers in order to ensure the provision of all types of healthcare efficiently in these testing times and beyond.
Objectives: The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis study was to identify the different disinfection methods and materials and the existing evidence on their effect on properties of the different impression materials.
Material and methods: An electronic search of MEDLINE (PubMed), Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases was performed to retrieve related English-language articles published between January 2000 and July 2019. Available studies with search terms such as: Impression disinfection, disinfection method, impression dimensional stability and impression wettability were used. The selected articles were reviewed by screening their titles and abstracts and full text. Finally, a total of 70 articles were considered relevant and were included in this study.
Results: Extensive studies were conducted to determine the effect of the different disinfection methods and materials on the properties of the different impression materials such as dimensional stability, wettability and surface roughness. While some studies reported significant changes in the properties of the impression materials, others reported either no changes or minor insignificant effects.
Conclusions: Some studies reported significant changes in the properties of the impression materials as a result of using different disinfection methods, whereas others reported either minor insignificant or no changes. Although the findings of the studies were controversial, care should be taken to avoid distortion of impressions and loss of their surface details that can adversely affect the fitting accuracy of the restorations. Therefore, better designed and standardized studies are needed to evaluate the effect of different commonly used disinfectants on properties of impression materials. Moreover, manufacturers should be encouraged to recommend specific disinfection methods and materials for disinfecting the impression materials to ensure their optimal accuracy.
Recently, the epidemic of Novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a chief public health challenge for many countries around the world. In Italy, it started in January the 31st with the first 2 cases reported; on Monday the 13th of April, the total confirmed cases were 156.363 with 19.901 total deaths (www.who.int). Turin is the fourth Italian city, with roughly 862.000 inhabitants, and the capital of Piedmont region, one of the most affected by COVID-19.
I am a risk assessment scientist at Oak Ridge Center for Risk Analysis in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. For more than 30 years, I have been involved in the evaluation of exposures, doses, and risks to human health from trace levels of contaminants in the environment, including fluoride, and in the use of uncertainty analysis for environmental and health risk assessment.
2. I was asked to apply risk assessment frameworks used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the current scientific literature on fluoride neurotoxicity to determine whether neurotoxicity is a hazard of fluoride exposure, and whether this hazard is a risk at the levels of fluoride added to drinking water for fluoridation (0.7 mg/L).
What does a scientific journal do? In a recent paper, Rubin et al. [1], tells us: At the Journal, we work with authors to craft their messages to provide readers the best information from rigorous medical practice and basic science. The process can take time, with careful peer review, editing, and graphics often involving multiple rounds of revision. This work fulfills our mission: to provide our readers with the highest-quality information to guide the care of patients, and continues, But some situations call for a different approach. The current outbreak of coronavirus infection is a threat to the health of the public and a breaking news story that changes hour by hour. We can eventually take a long view of how to manage and prevent epidemics, but today practitioners and public health authorities need actionable information as soon as possible. And concludes the article, the rapid pace of infectious disease outbreaks can be frightening. Our aim is to transparently bring readers the best information available in a highly expedited manner.