The Journal of the American Dental Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Virtual reality distraction for pain control during periodontal scaling and root planing procedures.
Although pain management during periodontal treatment usually is achieved with anesthesia, alternative methods are available. The authors conducted a study to evaluate the analgesic effect of immersive virtual reality (VR) during periodontal scaling and root planing (SRP) procedures. ⋯ Practitioners can use immersive VR distraction for pain control during SRP procedures.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
The efficacy of six local anesthetic formulations used for posterior mandibular buccal infiltration anesthesia.
The authors conducted a randomized, double-blind clinical trial to evaluate pulpal anesthesia achieved after mandibular infiltration of five commonly marketed dental local anesthetic formulations as compared with a control formulation of lidocaine with epinephrine. ⋯ The authors found that mandibular infiltration with 0.9 mL of the tested dental anesthetics could induce only partial pulpal anesthesia, a level likely to be inadequate for most dental procedures. When compared with L100, only the A100 induced statistically greater pulpal anesthesia after mandibular buccal infiltration.
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Red hair color is caused by variants of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene. People with naturally red hair are resistant to subcutaneous local anesthetics and, therefore, may experience increased anxiety regarding dental care. The authors tested the hypothesis that having natural red hair color, a MC1R gene variant or both could predict a patient's experiencing dental care-related anxiety and dental care avoidance. ⋯ Dentists should evaluate all patients, but especially those with naturally red hair, for dental care-related anxiety and use appropriate modalities to manage the patients' anxiety.
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The dental literature suggests that a patient's antiplatelet medication schedule should not be altered before invasive dental procedures. The authors conducted a study to examine the frequency of bleeding complications after invasive dental procedures in patients taking antiplatelet medications. ⋯ The risks of altering or discontinuing use of antiplatelet medications far outweigh the low risk of postoperative oral bleeding complications resulting from dental procedures.
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A major earthquake struck Sichuan province, China, on May 12, 2008, and the authors were involved in the medical response to the disaster in Jiangyou City, an area hard-hit by the quake. In this article, they analyze data about the earthquake-related facial injuries and assess dentistry's role in treating them. ⋯ The dental team should play an important role in disaster response. Establishing oral and maxillofacial surgeon (OMS)/dentist reserves and active leagues that use OMSs' and general dentists' offices as bases can help improve disaster response.