Australian dental journal
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Australian dental journal · Dec 2013
ReviewManagement of fear and anxiety in the dental clinic: a review.
People who are highly anxious about undergoing dental treatment comprise approximately one in seven of the population and require careful and considerate management by dental practitioners. This paper presents a review of a number of non-pharmacological (behavioural and cognitive) techniques that can be used in the dental clinic or surgery in order to assist anxious individuals obtain needed dental care. Practical advice for managing anxious patients is provided and the evidence base for the various approaches is examined and summarized. ⋯ Some techniques require specialist training but many others could usefully be adopted for all dental patients, regardless of their known level of dental anxiety. It is concluded that successfully managing dentally fearful individuals is achievable for clinicians but requires a greater level of understanding, good communication and a phased treatment approach. There is an acceptable evidence base for several non-pharmacological anxiety management practices to help augment dental practitioners providing care to anxious or fearful children and adults.
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Australian dental journal · Jun 2013
Case ReportsLemierre's syndrome: a serious complication of a routine dental procedure.
Lemierre's syndrome is the clinical presentation characterized by oropharyngeal or tonsillar infection, anaerobic septicaemia often with distant septic emboli, and clinical or radiological evidence of thrombosis of the internal jugular vein. We report a case of Lemierre's syndrome in a 44-year-old type II diabetic male. ⋯ Firstly, we believe it is the first reported iatrogenic case following a routine dental procedure. Secondly, the internal jugular vein thrombosis was found to occur on the contralateral side to the primary infection.
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Australian dental journal · Sep 2012
Comparative StudyA comparison of articaine 4% and lignocaine 2% in block and infiltration analgesia in children.
Articaine administered through buccal infiltration (BI) has been suggested as providing adequate posterior mandibular analgesia. This study compared the efficacy of articaine 4% with 1:100 000 adrenaline (test) and lignocaine 2% with 1:80 000 adrenaline (control), delivered either through an inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) or BI for routine restorative procedures in mandibular posterior teeth among children. ⋯ There was higher success and less painful treatment with IANB. There was no statistically significant difference in local analgesia success between articaine and lignocaine when delivered via BI.
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Australian dental journal · Jun 2012
Enamel roughness and depth profile after phosphoric acid etching of healthy and fluorotic enamel.
Dental fluorosis requires aesthetic treatment to improve appearance and etching of enamel surfaces with phosphoric acid is a key step for adhesive restorations. The aim of this study was to evaluate surface roughness and a depth profile in healthy and fluorotic enamel before and after phosphoric acid etching at 15, 30 and 60 seconds. ⋯ Surface roughness and depth profile analyses revealed that the best etching results were obtained at 15 seconds for the no fluorosis and mild fluorosis groups, and at 30 seconds for the moderate fluorosis group. Increasing the etching time for severe fluorosis decreased surface roughness and the depth profile, which suggests less micromechanical enamel retention for adhesive bonding applications.
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The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of moderate sedation with nitrous oxide/oxygen (N(2) O/O(2)) alone or combined with different dosages and administration routes of midazolam in uncooperative paediatric dental patients using the Bispectral Index System (BIS). ⋯ Moderate sedation can be successfully used in the clinical management of paediatric dental patients, with both intranasal and oral sedation using midazolam in conjunction with nitrous oxide found to be effective methods.