PURPOSE This study was conducted to determine if tactile sensitivity varies in dental hygiene students who use the ultrasonic scaler, as compared to those who scale with hand-activated instruments. METHODS A two-group, randomized subjects, pretest-posttest design was carried out mid-semester for five weeks on 40 first-year dental hygiene students who met the inclusion criteria of this study a...

INTRODUCTION The bending and torsional properties of thermomechanically treated K3XF (SybronEndo, Orange, CA) nickel-titanium instruments in relation to their phase transformation behavior were evaluated. METHODS NiTi instruments K3 (SybronEndo) and K3XF, both in sizes 25/.04 and 40/.04, were examined by differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction. The metal composition was determ...

BACKGROUND 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-relat...

This article describes the method used to develop and implement a local oral health survey (Columbus, Ohio) conducted in 1986. With the shift in the national dental disease pattern in the past decade, local oral health information is essential for program planning purposes. A collaborative effort by a city health department, a state health department, a dental school, and a school of public hea...

We used Washington State worker compensation claims (1995-2001) to characterize equipment and the mechanism of needlestick injuries (NSIs) among dental health care workers. Out of 3,655 needle-stick injuries reported 894 (24%) were among dental health care workers including dentists (n=66, 1.8%), dental hygienists (n=161, 4.4%) and dental assistants (667, 18.2%). The proportion of injuries incr...

UNLABELLED A pilot study was conducted with the aim to test and develop a questionnaire which covers dental patients attendance, satisfaction with dental care, oral health self-evaluation, attitudes and knowledge about oral health, before applying it to a broad population. A total of 53 adult subjects (mean age 40.1) visiting Kaunas University of Medicine dental clinics, filled in the questionn...

PURPOSE To evaluate the effectiveness of peracetic acid in the microbiological sterilisation of dental materials. METHODS Peracetic acid solution was evaluated at concentrations of 800, 1500 and 2500 ppm. At these concentrations, it was determined whether peracetic acid caused corrosion to dental instruments and induced cellular mutagenicity and cytotoxicity. In addition, the minimum inhibito...