Four hundred sixty-two patients were retrospectively evaluated for their compliance to periodontal therapy in terms of attendance for a recommended schedule of visits, being classified as either compliant or non-compliant. Compliant patients were further divided into erratic and complete complier groups. The results indicated that there were no significant differences between the compliant and non-compliant groups with regard to the numbers of teeth lost before treatment, and dental insurance coverage. There were more women among the compliant patients. In the non-compliant group, more patients received only initial periodontal therapy, whereas in the compliant group more patients received periodontal surgery. No significant differences were found between the erratic and complete complier groups with regard to age, sex and treatment undertaken.
Erratic complier patients lost more teeth than complete complier patients during supportive periodontal treatment. The main finding of this study was that no factors other than the complexity of active periodontal therapy had any influence on patients being compliant or non-compliant. Furthermore, no factors were found to affect the degree of compliancy. Our results suggest that patients' understanding of periodontal treatment plays a major role in compliance with supportive periodontal treatment.

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Dental care services include relaxation of patients to reduce their displeasure at and tension during treatment. For this purpose, it is common to use audio or audiovisual programs, that is, to let them listen to music or watch TV. However, the former utilizes only the auditory sense, and the latter is disadvantageous in that a TV set is a rather large-scale unit.
In the present study, we determined the relaxation effect of an audiovisual instrument on dental patients. The instrument, which gives virtual vision, was composed of a lightweight eyeset of the snow goggle type that has a built-in TV screen, with earphone and accessories. The relaxation effect was determined using a polygraph.

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A study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the parents' level of knowledge, and their attitudes to nursing bottle syndrome. Of 284 children aged 2-6 years clinically examined, 153 were diagnosed as having nursing bottle syndrome based on the criterion that at least one upper maxillary incisor was affected by caries. The parents of the 153 affected children were then interviewed by questionnaire. The findings suggested that parents had adequate knowledge and a positive attitude towards maintaining satisfactory dental care for their children. However, these attitudes were not reflected in the dental health of their children. The implications of these findings are discussed.

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The study was conducted to evaluate the degree of calcification in the jawbones of 3 pairs of 4-weekold male op/op mice and littermates using computed tomography (CT) numbers. The mean CT numbers for op/op mice (n=3) were 251.3 HU (range, 226 to 278) in the maxillary bone and 353.7 HU (range, 320 to 398) in the mandibular bone. The mean CT numbers for littermates were 336.7 HU (range, 324 to 350) and 596.6 HU (range, 580 to 604), respectively.
The CT numbers of littermates were higher than in op/op mice for both maxillary and mandibular bones. These results indicated that the degree of bony calcification in littermates was higher than that in 4-week-old op/op mice in both the maxillary and mandibular bones. CT is able to demonstrate the degree of bony calcification in the jawbones of op/op mice using CT numbers, and it is suggested that CT is an extremely effective tool for examining the conditions of bone in vivo. This study also shows that op/op mice are useful for investigation of bone calcification or maturation.

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Calcifying odontogenic cysts (COCs) represent a group of lesions that may be broadly classified into two main entities : cysts and neoplasms. In the present study 30 non-neoplastic cystic COCs were examined by a quantitative histological method in an attempt to calibrate the relative distribution of the type of epithelial lining, intensity of ghost cell formation and the amount of dentinoid present. The results showed that there are two main types of cystic COC : an odontoma-producing type and a non-odontoma-producing variant. Morphologically, tooth-like structures were a valid distinguishing feature, while morphometrically the odontoma-producing variant showed a greater amount of luminal and mural dentinoid as well as luminal ghost cells. Demographic analysis also revealed that the odontoma-producing COC occurred in younger patients and showed an even sex distribution, whereas the non-odontoma-producing type was seen in older patients and showed a predilection for females. Both subtypes were more prevalent in the Chinese population and occurred preferentially in the maxilla.

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The lining epithelium of 15 cases of odontogenic keratocyst (OKC) was evaluated immunohistochemically. The peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique was applied to study the distribution of polyclonal keratin and S-100 protein while the indirect method was used to examine monoclonal vimentin and desmin reactivity. Consistent positive keratin staining was revealed in the lining epithelium of all 15 OKCs with additional intense staining in the stratum corneum. None of the cases showed vimentin or desmin reactivity within the lining epithelium elements. One of the 15 cysts studied showed positive S-100 protein staining in the nuclei of the lining epithelial cells. The pertinent literature on the immunophenotyping of the lining epithelium of OKC is reviewed.

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It is possible that salivary proteins on bacterial cells have some influence on the adsorption of oral bacteria to the surface of oral tissues. The aim of this study was to clarify the influence of salivary proteins attached to the surface of Streptococcus sanguis ATCC 10556 (S. sanguis) on bacterial adsorption to hydroxyapatite beads treated with salivary proteins (S-HA beads). Just-harvested cells (N-system) and saliva-coated cells (C-system) were used.
The results showed that adsorption to S-HA beads was gradually reduced by a covering of salivary proteins. No influence was observed on the adsorption of cells due to the presence of divalent cations, phosphate or EDTA when the N-system and C-system were compared. Though it was evident that hydrophobic bonding was involved in adsorption in the N-system, few such effects were observed in the C-system. Adsorption was inhibited to varying degrees by sugars in both systems. Pretreatment of cells with heat affected adsorption differently in the N-system and C-system.
These findings suggest that salivary proteins attached to the bacterial cell surface may influence its adsorption to oral tissues.

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Two cases of elongated styloid process are reported. The first occurred in a 27-year-old man whose only complaint was pain when moving the jaw, and its differential diagnosis was comparatively simple. The second case occurred in a 33-year-old woman, for whose condition differential diagnosis was more difficult, as she presented many symptoms, including neuralgic pain in the face and neck, pain in the pharynx when swallowing, and pain in the region of the temporomandibular joint, radiating to the subauricular and submandibular regions. Following surgical shortening of the elongated styloid process through an intraoral approach, both patients' symptoms disappeared or were improved.

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