General dentistry
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The past several decades have heralded new insights into the many ramifications of pain. The mind-body connection must be appreciated in the assessment and care of the temporomandibular disorder/orofacial pain patient. ⋯ It currently is understood that pain, especially chronic or recurrent pain, crosses all disciplines of health care with regard to diagnosis and management. This article will discuss the importance of including clinical and health psychology as a part of the health care team.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Clinical evaluation of the efficacy of three nitrous oxide scavenging units during dental treatment.
There are environmental health concerns for dental health care providers chronically exposed to trace amounts of waste nitrous oxide (N2O). This study compared the effectiveness of three N2O scavenging systems, the Porter/Brown, the Accutron, and the Matrx, in actual time during use in a standardized mock dental treatment protocol that reflected clinical practice while minimizing the influence of confounding variables. At every occasion during the procedure, the Porter/Brown scavenger system left the operatory with significantly less N2O than any of the other scavengers tested. The Porter/Brown removed between 71% and 91% of the N2O compared to the control (no device).
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Green tea has been a popular beverage for many centuries. Only recently, however, has the anti-cancer power of green tea constituents been unveiled. Green tea polyphenols are found to induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) in many types of tumor cells, including oral cancer cells. ⋯ These differential responses to green tea and its constituents between normal and malignant cells were correlated with the induction of p57, a cell cycle regulator. These data suggest that the chemopreventive effects of green tea polyphenols may involve a p57 mediated survival pathway in normal epithelial cells, while oral carcinoma cells undergo an apoptotic pathway. Therefore, regular consumption of green tea could be beneficial in the prevention of oral cancer.