The purpose of this study was to discover the conditions under which children eat lunch. The subjects were children in the day-nursery in Koriyama city, Fukushima Prefecture, who were 4 and 5 years old,11 boys and 13 girls. Dental examinations were first carried out, and for 8 days the sorts of menu such as hamburg steak, the sorts of utensils used to eat lunch such as chopsticks, forks and spoons, the time from the beginning to the ending of lunch, and the time of concentration on eating lunch, were surveyed at lunch time in the day-nursery. The menus surveyed were of 4 sorts in 8 days, and were the same in pair days. The heights, and weights and Kaup's indexes of the children were also surveyed, and the questionnaires on their personarities, abilities to exercise and the likes and dislikes of foods which they ate, were investigated, as well as the relationships between their concentration on eating lunch and the other tiems. Also their dental examinations were analysed, by means of discriminant analysis of the1st class of Hayashi's quantifying theory.
The results were asfollows:
1) The utensils they used to eat lunch weredifferent by according to the menu, especially when eating hamburg steak or curry and rice.
2) The average time a child took from the beginning to the end of lunch was approximately 30 minutes.
3) The average time a child concentrated on eating lunch was approximately 15minutes, but was almost the same even fordiffering menu.
4) Most children concentrated on eating lunch for a period of 15 minutes from the start, soon lost interest somewhat in eating lunch between 15 and 30 minutes, and concentrated again after 30 minutes from the start.
5) Vegetables were the most common of the foods which were leftover at lunch, and were disliked by more than90% of the children.
6) It was shown by discriminant analysis that the following children needed a period of concentration on eating lunch in followingorder: those who did not have higher carious teeth than C3, those who had more the number of times which were leftover in lunch, those who had dislike what they ate, those who had larger Kaup's indexes and bette ability to exercise than the average, those who took a shorter time from the beginning to the ending of eating lunch than the average, those who had abnormalities in dental alignment and who were selfcomposed.

View full abstract

Delayed eruption of first permanent molars was examined on panoramic tomograms using Kunitake's age-eruption diagram. Eighty-four Japanese patients (37 male/47 female) out of 2,245 were screened as having delayed eruption. The cases revealed the following clinical findings.
1. One first molar or bilateral first molars were affected in 89.3% cases.
2. Tooth formation of the affected teeth was also retarded in 46.3% cases.
3. Delayed eruption was generally localized on first molars or molar segments. Only 9.5% of the patients had a delayed dental age.
4. Delayed formation or congenital missing of second molars proximal to the affected first molars were also found. The affected rate of maxillary second molars was 44.4%, while only 1.3% of mandibular teeth were found to be affected.
5. The shape and size of the affected first molar could be varied. Maxillary first molars with 3 cusps and 5 cusps were observed, and the affected group had a significantly smaller size of mandibular first molars.
6. Delayed eruption of first molars was associated with ectopic eruption in some cases. Tooth formation was not usually retarded.

View full abstract

A phylogenetic comparative study was made between Japanese monkeys and human children to discover the reason for the diversity in human occlusion and for the wide variability in human maxillofacial morphology. The material consisted of longitudinal lateral chephalograms of 20 Japanese monkeys and 20children. Each interval of the cephalograms (0,1,2 years of age and 4,6,8 years of age) corresponded to their dental ages. The linear and angular analysis of both their maxillofacial components were evaluated, and a factor analysis on the amounts of the growth change which the coordinates of landmarks showed was performed.
The results were as follows.
1) From the linear analysis of the monkeys, there were remarkably significant differences in all the measurements both between the first and second year and between the second and third year. However, in human children, the growth of the nasomaxillary complex preceded, and the growth of the mandible, especially in height, was delayed.
2) From the angular analysis of the monkeys, a vivid growth in the anterior parts of the nasomaxillary complex and mandible was observed both between the first and second year and between the second and third year. However, in human children, no significant difference was recognized between these years, so that it seemed the human maxillofacial complex grew while keeping its framework nearly stable in these periods.
3) The main differences in the factor analysis were the timing, numbers and magnitude of factors which were (1) dependency of the growth of the anterior cranial base and its concern with the growth of the nasomaxillary complex, (2) united growth to the anteroinferior direction between the nasomaxillary complex and mandible and (3) independent morphogenesis of the mandible.
4) It is suggested from above results that one of the reasons that human beings have wide variability in their occlusion and craniofacial morphology is the changing growth pattern which, in the period of deciduous dentition, the nasomaxillary complex will grow anteroinferiorly in cooperation with the mandible and, in the period of mixed dentition, the nasomaxillary complex will not be able to grow freely under the control of the growth of the anterior cranial base, and the mandible will grow relatively freely in its morphogenesis.

View full abstract

A 33 item survey was mailed to all members who were authorized as the specialized pediatric dentists by the Japanese Society of Pediatric Dentistry. A total of 933 (male: 643, female: 290) surveys were distributed, and 377 male (58.6%),161 female (55.5%), a total 540 (57.9%) returned via mail from November 1992 to January 1993.
The results of the survey were as follows.
1) On the use of gloves,32.8% used them with all patients,55% occasionally used them and 11.7% never used them.
2) On the use of masks,56.3% used them with all patients,30.6% occasionally used them and 12.8% never used them.
3) On the use of glasses or goggles for the dentists who do not wear glasses in daily life,42.6% wore them with all patients,30.5% occasionally wore them and 20.6% never wore them.
4) On the use of surgical caps,10% wore them with all patients,13% occasionally wore them and 75.4% never wore them.
5) The percentage of the dentists who changed aprons between patients was 30.9%.
6) On the use of the tapes and covers for the switches of the light and dental unit,1.3% used them with all patients,16.3% occasionally used them and 80.9%never used them.
7) On the sterilization or disinfection of handpieces,25.2% used autoclave,12.2% used ethylene oxide and 78.2% wiped them with an alcohol cotton.
8) The percentage of the dentists who sterilized and changed all handpieces between patients was 13%.
9) On the disinfection of dental impressions,6.9% disinfected all impressions,31.3 % occasionally disinfected them and 60% never disinfected them.
10) The percentage of the dentists who disinfected dental chairs and exposed surfaces between patients was 16.5%.

View full abstract

It is known that there are small pits on the cuspal portion of human teeth named the crestal pits. SEM observation of the crestal pits on human permanent molars have been reported already by the authors. However, the SEM observation of the crestal pits on unerupted human permanent molars has not yet been reported.
This paper presents the SEM observation of the crestal pits of 20 unerupted human permanent first molars, bilaterally on the same individual, which were obtained from 10 mandibulars of dry Indian skulls. The results were compared with those of previously published crestal pit studies on erupted permanent molars.
1) The crestal pits were observed in 8 mandibulars out of 10 mandibulars (80.0%). Ninety eight crestal pits were found in 14 teeth out of 20 observed teeth (51 and 47 crestal pits were found in 7 teeth of the right and left sides of first permanent molars respectively). No statistically significant difference was seen between the bilateral molars of the number of crestal pit.
2) The maximum 19 and the minimum one and the average 7 crestal pits were found per tooth on unerupted permanent first molars. This average value is larger than that of erupted permanent molars (4.9). No statistically significant difference was seen between that of unerupted permanent first molars and erupted permanent molars.
3) Similar to that of erupted permanent molars, the most common opening shape of crestal pits found on unerupted permanent first molars was the round shape (53.1%).
4) The highest concentration of crestal pits found on unerupted permanent first molars was located on the mesio-buccal cuspal portion.
5) Concerning the opening diameters of the crestal pits on unerupted permanent first molars, on the right side the maximum was 180μm and the minimum 9μm with an average of 47.7μm; on left side the maximum was 150μm and the minimum 9μm with an average of 37.6μm. No statistically significant difference was seen between the diameters of crestal pits on the right and left sides of unerupted permanent first molars. The average diameter of the crestal pits of unerupted permanent first molars on both sides was 42.9μm, the maximum 180μm and the minimum 9μm. This average was much smaller than that of erupted permanent molars (173μm). No significant statistical difference was seen in the average value of the diameter of the crestal pits between the unerupted permanent first molars and erupted permanent molars.

View full abstract

It is very important to know how the masticatory function develops in children.
The bite pressure detecting film 'DENTAL-PRESCALE' and its analyzing system 'OCCLUZER' have been developed by Fuji Photo Film CO., LTD., Japan. DENTAL-PRESCALE is U-figured in three sizes and fits in with different periods of dentition. OCCLUZER can analyze the occlusal contact area, the maximum bite pressure, the average bite pressure and the degree of bite force. The purpose of this paper was to examine the reproducibility of the occlusal contact area and the degree of bite force in children with the use of DENTAL-PRESCALE.
A total of 175 DENTAL-PRESCALE films in 63 subjects were obtained and analyzed by the OCCLUZER. The coefficient of variation (c. v. ) among the measurements of the same material was about 3% in both the occlusal contact area and the bite force. The c. v. among the materials of the same subject was about 13% in both of them. Thus the reproducibility of DENTAL-PRESCALE revealed in this study indicates that this is a very useful material to examine the masticatory function in children.

View full abstract

Occlusal force was measured and bone salt was also measured by photodensiometry from dental films. The subjects consisted of a total of 48 children,24boys and 24 girls, from 8 to 10 years old, who were examined at the outpatients of Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Attached Hospital, Kyushu Dental College.
These children had normal occlusion and had practically no caries or defects in the mandibular molar region from the clinical standpoint.
The results were as follows:
1. The averages of the occusal force for boys were 23.64±3.74 kg for age 8,29.25±4.63 kg for age 9, and 32.63±5.19 kg for age 10, and for girls were 24.75±4.68 kg for age 8,26.38±5.19 kg for age 9, and 32.38±6.22 kg for age 10. In the t-test taken by the boys and girls, nosignificant difference was found from ages 8 to 10. In the t-test between ages, age 9 gorup showed significantly greater values than age 8 group (p<0.05) between ages 8 and 9; age 10 group showed greater values than age 8 group (p<0.05) between ages 8 and 10; and age 10 group showed significantly greater values than age 9group (p<0.05) between ages 9 and 10.
2. In the measurements of bone salt, the averages for boys were 3.74±0.74 mm Al fbrage 8,4.36±0.80 mm Al for age 9, and 4.44±0.73 mm Al for age 10, and for girls were 3.54±0.70 mm Al for age 8,4.18±0.82 mm Al for age 9, and 4.59±0.73 mm Al forage10. No significant difference was found between boys and girls. In the t-test between ages, between age 8 and 9, and between ages 8 and 10, the latter who were older showed significantly higher values than the former, but no significant difference was found between ages 9 and 10.
3. Correlative coefficients of occlusal force and bone salt's were r=0.816 for age 8, r=0.860 for age 9, and r=0.730 for age 10, and r=0.820 for the whole. A strong correlation was found between occlusal force which is the physical simulation to the jaw bone and bone salt which reflects the internal structure of the bone.

View full abstract

Biting force and Digit span tests were measured in 56 kindergarten children aged from 5 years 5 months to 6 years 5 months and in 98 junior high school students aged from 12 years 1 month to 15 years 1 month. The kindergarten children were given chewing training during the 6 months which was preceded and followed by biting force measurements and Digit span tests. The following were obtained:
1. Significant positive correlations were observed between the biting force and forward recall and backword recall test scores in kindergarten children.
2. The mean biting force and forward recall and backword recall test scores increased significantly after chewing training. Furthermore, there was a larger number of children whose forward recall test scores increased after chewing training.
3. Significant positive correlations were observed between biting force and forward recall test scores in junior high school students.

View full abstract

The present study investigated the numbers, ratios, types and microstructures of myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers in human normal primary and immatured permanent teeth from the standpoint of neural development using an electron microscope. The root pulp of human normal primary canies and immatured premolars was used in this study. The root pulp was embedded in Epon 812 with the usual method. The specimens were sliced in 1-2 um and in 50-70nm thicknesses respectively with a microtome for examination with an optical and electron microscope. The numbers and diameters of the myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers were measured and calculated using the Image Analysis System (NHI image 1.49) in the computer.
The results in this study were as follows:
1) It was indicated that the numbers of nerve fiber on the root pulp in immatured permanent premolars were significantly higher than that of the primary canines. The apparent increasing tendency of the nerve fibers was seen in conjunction with the forming root apex formation in immatured permanent premolars. The average ratio of the myelinated and unmyelinated axons was 1: 9.998and 1: 6.706 in primary canines and immatured premolars respectively.
2) The average diameter of the myelinated and unmyelinated axons and G-values (ratio axon diameter/total fiber diameter) of the myelinated axons showed no significant statistical difference between primary canines and immatured premolars.
3) The total myelinated axons of which the diameter is over 5 gm, contained 24.621 % and 35.339% axons respectively in primary canines and immatured premolars.
4) The various kinds of structures were observed on the unmyelinated axons with the electron microscope.
Based on the above results, the numbers of the nerve fibers specifically content of the myelinated axons in them were thought to be one of the factors in which each tooth has his different sensibility. Furthermore, according to the differences of the axon structures this would suggest that the nerve fibers have different functions apart from mediation of pain transmission.

View full abstract

To evaluate masticatory muscle activity bilaterally during submaximal clenching, an asymmetry index (AI) has been recently introduced by Naeije et al. However the characteristics of AI both in the temporal and masseter muscle activity have not yet been clarified. Therefore in the present study, the influence of clenching efforts and occlusal positions on the AI of the temporal and masseter muscles was investigated.
Forty healthy subjects with normal occlusion (Aged 20 to 37 yrs. old) were asked to clench at 50 percent of the maximum voluntary clenching (MVC) level of the masseter muscles during 5 different clenching tasks as follows: (1) clenching in the intercuspal position (ICP), (2) intentional vertical clenching on the left and right side in the ICP (Int. VR and VL), (3) lateral shift clenching to the left and right side (Lat. R and L). Bite checks were obtained in ICP and Lat. R and L, with green bite wax, and the number of post-canine tooth contacts were calculated bilaterally.
The results were as follows; As to the temporal muscle, the AI of the ipsilateral side changed compared positively with the contralateral side in all of the subjects. However, three patterns were recognized in the masseter muscle AI, by evaluating the predominancy of the ipsi-and contra-lateral side activity at Int. VR and VL, and Lat. R and L. A positive correlation was recognized between the AI value of the masseter muscle and the asymmetry of the number of tooth contacts both in the ICP and Lat. R and L, while it was not found in the temporal muscle.
These results suggested that the AI values were related to the clenching direction and occlusal positions in the temporal muscles, but related to the number of post-canine tooth contacts in the masseter muscles.

View full abstract

For the purpose of observing the way child patients look at the face of their mothers in photographs and determining the places where they find it easiest to recognize their mothers, we started a series of experiments by showing each child one photograph of his mother's face and measured the subject's eye movements using an eye camera. After that, a panel of the three photos-one photo being his mother's and the other two other women's arranged vertically-was presented, and the eye movements were measured while the child was trying to identify his mother.
To examine if there is some relationship of the eye movements of the subjects in their search of their mothers to other factors such as those associated with their mothers, home environment and the characterization in the Takagi-Sakamoto juvenile personality test, a multivariate analysis was performed.
The following is a summary of our findings:
1. When the mother's photograph was presented, the time required for the primary point of observation to rest on the photo was 492.8 msec.
2. In the experiment where the three vertically arranged photos were shown, the average time needed to perceive the mother's photo was shortest when it was placed in the middle.
3. In the same experiment, the majority of the subjects looked at the photo in the middle first, then the photo at the top and the photo at the bottom, in that order.
4. The primary point of observation was placed on the photo at the bottom by none of those subjects whose mother's photo was placed at the top,5% of those whose mother's photo was in the middle and 35 % of those whose mother's photo was at the bottom.
5. The time required for the children to perceive seemed to reflect mother-child relations, home environment and other factors such as those mentioned in the Takagi-Sakamoto juvenile personality test. Especially relevant were motherchild relations and the personality inventory of the Takagi-Sakamoto test.
6. Whether the primary point of observation is on the mother's photo or on the other two photos also reflected mother-child relations, home environment and the results of the Takagi-Sakamoto personality test.

View full abstract

Recently, the growth and development of the oral cavity in childhood have come to notice. It is important to know the effect of calcium intake on the jaw.
The authors therefore gave calcium deficient food to three-week old rats of the Wistar strain and induced a state of bone debility in them. The rats were then given a mixed food of the calcium-rich cattle bone and standard food and the effect on bone construction in the mandibular condyly at growth stage was investigated.
The results were as follows;
1. Based on the radiological findings, it was found administration of high calcium food resulted in larger mandibular condyle shape and an increase in and regularity of the trabeculae.
2. Based on the findings from analysis with an X-ray microanalyzer, it was found that administration of high calcium food increased both the relative Ca ratio and the relative P ratio. The minimum values in the calcium-deficient food group and the values of the calcium-deficient food group and high calcium food group approximated those of the control group.
3. Based on the histopathological findings, it was found that administration of high calcium food showed regular borders of the chondrocyte layers, decrease in hypertrophic chondrocytes, increase in the calcified matrices surrounding hypertropic chondrocytes, active formation of the trabecular, and that the trabecular were thin. However, it was unsatisfactory to compare with the control group.
4. Based on the scanning electron microscopic findings, it was found that administration of high calcium showed a decrease of chondrocyte layers, active formation and an increase width of the trabeculae. However compared with the control group, it was still unsatisfactory.
On the basis of the foregoing findings, administration of a calcium-rich cattle bone to debelitated bone tissue in the mandibular condyle at growth state accelerated the growth of bone constrcution. The state of the restoration was shown to be insufficient.

View full abstract

Menkes syndrome is x-linked recessive disorder which originates because of a problem with the congenital absorption of the copper in the epithelial cells of the small intestine. Various clinical findings are manifested due to the decline of some copper-dependent enzyme activity. However, little is known about the specific characteristics of the oral traits in Menkes syndrome children owing to the lack of sufficient case reports. The findings of a three-year-old boy affected Menkes syndrome were as follows.
1. Low body height and weight.
2. Mental and physical developmental retardation and delay of bone age.
3. Osteoarhritis of the spine and funnel shaped breast.
4. Kinky hair and abnormal pigmentation in skin and hair.
5. Micrognathia of mandible and crowding in anterior lower dental arch.
6. Hypsistaphylia and deep overbite.
7. Rampant caries owing to a continuous over-intake of sport-drink and poor oral hygiene.

View full abstract

A 2-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl were examined with the chief complaint of delayed eruption of the maxillary right deciduous canine.
In both cases, oral examination revealed a firm swelling on the labial gingiva at the region of the right deciduous canines of the maxilla. Radiographic examination revealed that these odontoma like substances disturbed the eruption of the deciduous maxillary canines.
We diagnosed these cases as "Compound odontomas inducing impaction of a deciduous canine". We removed surgically the odontoma-like substances and observed the progress of these cases. The deciudous canines erupted naturally and moved to their position.

View full abstract

Cleidocranial dysplasia is a form of congenital systemic bone dysplasia, that has such clinical characteristics as aplastic or hypoplastic clavicles bilaterally, delayed ossification of the skull, as well as delayed deciduous dentition and jaw bone development. In Japan, many cases have been reported. We experienced a case of cleidocranial dysplasia in a 6-year,10-month old girl.
This case showed hypoplastic development of the skull, and defect of the clavicles. This patient had prolonged retention of the deciduous teeth and delayed eruption of the permanent teeth. The orthopantomography findings showed no root resorptions of the deciduous teeth. Development age of the permanent teeth was delayed about two years. The size, number and form of the teeth were usual. The width and length of both the maxilla and mandible dental arches were underdeveloped. According to X-ray cephalometric analysis, the labial tapping of the maxilla anterior and lingual tapping of mandible anterior was shown.

View full abstract

The present report described clinical management of 32 cases of impacted teeth which were tracted and aligned in the dental arch at the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Fukuoka Dental College.
As a result of treating these cases, the following findings were obtained.
1. The subjects comprised of 27 children (male: 10, female: 17). There were 3 cases of primary teeth and 29 cases of permanent teeth.
2. Causes of impaction: One case due to a supernumerary tooth, five cases due to odontoma, and four cases due to follicular cysts, twenty-two cases for unknown cause (nineteen of twenty-two cases were caused by abnormal direction of tooth eruption, and the others showed normal direction).
3. The most frequently tracted teeth in all the cases were the upper central incisors, and the second most frequent were the upper canines.
4. Crown axis (axle): The tipping angles of the upper central incisors were 46°-126° to the long axis of the normal upper permanent central incisor
.5. Age at beginning of treatment: An average of 8 years 6 months for the upper central incisors, and an average of 10 years 10 months for the upper canines.
6. Condition of root formation at beginning of treatment: Two cases were complete, whereas thirty cases were incomplete.
7. Term of active tooth guidance: The average term, for the upper central incisors was 14 months and the average for the upper canines was 17 months.
8. All cases showed favorable prognosis.

View full abstract

A 4-year-old boy with severe mobility and pain of the right lower primary canine visited our clinic and was subjected to clinical as well as laboratory examination for diagnosis and treatment. The canine was accompanied by severe bone loss with a pocket depth exceeding 5-6 mm. The left lower canine showed slight mobility and moderate alveolar bone loss. No apparent pathological findings were noted on the other primary teeth. The oral hygiene of this case was fairly favorable with a small amount of calculus deposition around the lower anterior teeth. Medical examination did not reveal any specific findings, such as recurrent otitis media, bacterial infection or hyperkeratosis of the palms and soles.
Seven months after the first visit, the patient revisited us with a complaint of pain around the right lower lateral incisor. During a period of 3-4 weeks, alveolar bone loss around the lower anterior teeth occured rapidly and the teeth became noticeably mobile. The primary lateral incisor was extracted and the other teeth were treated by scaling and systemic/local administration of antibiotics. After the treatment, these teeth became less mobile.

View full abstract

Dentinogenesis Imperfecta (D. I. ) is a localized form of mesodermal dysplasia affecting the dentin with involvement of both the primary and permanent teeth. Clinically, the color of the teeth is translucent gray with an opalescent sheen. Attrition is frequently rapid and severe, and the affected teeth may become abscessed.
The findings in a 4-year-old girl patient affected with D. I. with impacted supernumerary teeth, were as follows.
1) Sever attrition in all deciduous teeth. Over denture type removable space maintainer was inserted after the restoration with metal crowns on those teeth affected.
2) Cross bite between the upper and lower central permanent incisors caused gingival recession.
3) Radiological and histopathological findings of the impacted supernumerary teeth in upper jaw showed the characteristics of dentinogenesis imperfecta.
4) Upper central permanent incisors were labially inclined with the finger spring soldered to the lingual arch in the upper dentition.

View full abstract

It is obvious that epidemiological surveillance is necessary to understand the cause of dental injuries, and also careful attention ought to be paid to the activity of the children in order to grasp the potential background of dental trauma. The purpose of this study was to investigate the actual conditions in which children's teeth undergo traumatic injury and treatment of traumatised teeth in the pediatric dental clinic. The subjects in this survey were 1815 patients aged between 0 to 19years who visited the Kanagawa Dental College Hospital for the period from 1973to 1992.
The results were as follows:
1) The number of patients with traumatic injuries of teeth at our clinic has shown a gradual increase in recent years.
2) The traumatic injuries of teeth occurred frequently in between May and July, September and October.
3) The traumatic injuries of teeth occurred frequently between 1 and 3 years of age in the primary dentition, and between 6 and 12 years of age in the permanent dentition with a maximum at 7 to 8 years of age. The upper central incisors were most frequently affected in both the primary and permanent dentitions.
4) The ratios of affected boys and girls was 1.5: 1 for the primary teeth, and 1.9: 1 for the permanent teeth respectively.
5) The types of trauma in the primary teeth were frequently luxation (involving subluxation), concussion and fracture in that order. Those in the permanent teeth were fracture, luxation and concussion in that order.
6) The treatment of trauma in the primary teeth included frequently observation, extraction, fixation and pulp therapy in that order. Those in the permanent teeth included fixation, observation, pulp therapy, crown restoration, replantation and extraction in that order.
It is concluded that the prevalence of dental trauma in children appears to be on the increase in our area. Therefore it is necessary to inform the community that proper response in the case of dental accident and preventive methods are quite important factors.

View full abstract

Calcifying odontogenic cysts, first reported by Gorlin et al. in 1962, are relatively rare disease which has the characteristic features of gohst cells and calcified products. We experienced a case of this disease which occurred in the mandibular left canine area of an 11-year-old girl.
The patient complained of a prolonged retention of the lower left primary canine.
The rentogenographic examination revealed a thumb-tip sized and a wellcircumscribed biocular cystic radiolucent area.
As treatment, the lower left primary canine was left and a fenestration operation were done.
A cyst wall lining of thin stratified squamous epithelium which with partially hyperplasia and the presence of small calcifying tissues and ghost cells were seen in the histopathological findings. Also, the aggregation of the odontogenic epithelium diffused in the fibrous cyst wall was found. Because this disease has a neoplastic character and there are reports of a recurrence, it is important to observe these cases lather carefully and over a long period or time.

View full abstract

Due to improved medical care, children with congenital heart diseases (CHD)do not infrequently visit the dental clinics. However the oral health of children with CHD has not been improved because of several reasons. Therefore, it is important to recognize the actual condition of children with CHD. This report is the investigation into the dental situation of 220 children with CHD who had visited the Pedodontic Clinic of Niigata University Dental Hospital from September 1979to December 1993.
The results were as follows:
1. The ratio of patients with CHD in our clinic was 1.7%.
2. The age of patients ranged from 0 to 16 years old. Most of them were 3 or 4-year-old children and the average age was 5 years 7 months.
3.66.8% of patients were referred from medical hospitals or other dental clinics. The majority of these patients asked for caries treatment before receiving heart surgery.
4. The diagnoses of CHD included ventricular septal defects (92 cases), tetralogy of the Fallot (43 cases) and so on.31.4% of the patients had complications which included the Down Syndrome, mental retardation and so on.
5.46.2% of the CHD patients who were going to receive heart surgery visited our clinic less than 2 weeks before the operation.
6. The prevalence of dental caries in CHD patients was higher than those of healthy children.
7. Most of the dental treatments involved restorations. However the ratio of extractions and endodontic treatments was higher than those of healthy children.73.2% of the CHD patients received treatment for all decayed teeth. The average number of treated teeth was 7.3 and the average number of times of treatment was 4.3.
8.55.0% of the CHD patients visited our clinic for recalls. The results suggest that early oral health management and its maintenance in cooperation with medical department are necessary.

View full abstract

Ten cases on and after mixed dentition were clinico-histopathologically diagnosed as epulis at the Pedodontic Clinic of Niigata University Dental Hospital during a period of 13 years and 9 months from September 1979 to May 1993. We analysed those cases and compared them with 11 cases of epulis in the deciduous dentition.
The results were as follows:
1. The patients consisted of 2 males and 8 females. The age of the patients ranged from 6 years to 28 years. Two patients were adults, one had autism and another was mentally-retarded, both without prescription of anticonvulants.
2. Four patients came with tumor of the gingiva as their chief complaints, and others showed lesions during the dental treatments or dental check-ups.
3. Seven cases occurred in the maxilla; six were located in the anterior segments and one in the posterior, and three in the mandible; two in the anterior and one in the posterior.
4. All of the lesions were smaller than 10 mm in diameter.
5. Histopathologically, all of the cases showed inflammatory epulis. One case showed epulis granulomatosa,3 cases epulis granulo-fibrosa,6 cases epulis fibrosa.
6. The tumors were removed surgically in 9 cases. In one case, the tumor disappeared after biopsy. The prognosis is good and no recurrence has been observed to date.
7. The etiological factors were considered to be tooth eruption, labial arch appliance, trauma, mobile tooth, and so on.

View full abstract

Twelve cases of jaw cysts in children were treated at the Pedodontic Clinic of Niigata University Dental Hospital during a period of 14 years and 4 months from September 1989 to January 1994. We investigated these cases clincohistopathologically.
The results were as follows:
1. The patients consisted of 7 males and 5 females. The age of the patients ranged from 5 years and 7 months to 13 years and 4 months. Six cases were under 10 years old.
2. Five patients came with swelling of the face and three with gingival swelling as their chief complaints and other four cases came without any subjective symptoms, the lesions being discovered by X-ray examination.
3. In two cases occurrence was in the maxilla and in ten in the mandible. Both of the maxillar cases were located between the right lateral incisor and canine. All of the mandibular cases were located in the premolar region.
4. Two cases of the maxilla had injuries in the maxillar incisor region.
5. The size of the mandibular cysts ranged from 15 to 42 mm mesiodistally on panoramic X-ray film.
6. In the mandibular cysts, there were two types of X-ray findings. One was the type which enveloped developing unerupted permanent teeth and the other was a cyst existing laterally to the unerupted permanent tooth. All cases were related to diciduous molars which had received pulp therapy.
7. Treatmentt were extirpation in one case and marsupialization in eleven. All impacted permanent premolars were conserved.
8. Histopathological diagnoses indicated primordial cysts in three cases and dentigerous cysts in nine.

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract