Recently, development of the ICT promotes utilization of web-based teaching materials in educational institutions. In the undergraduate program of pediatric dentistry at the Dental School, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, web-based e-learning (WebCT) has been introduced to 4^th-year basic practice, since 2007, in order to give students efficient and effective learning.In this study, anonymous surveys, with 11 questions, were conducted in order to verify the contents, usability, and effectiveness of the WebCT by the five-grades. The subjects were 122 4^th-year students of the Dental School and 80 junior residents of the Dental Hospital as controls.Most of the 4^th-year students were positive towards the questions “WebCT helps me understand the outline of the practice” and “WebCT is useful to basic practice”. On the other hand, there were significant differences for the questions “WebCT helps me understand the details of handling” and “WebCT helps me to prepare completely and in a short time” (p＜0.01), between the 4^th-year students and the junior residents. In the open-ended question, the 4^th-year students stated that the WebCT was easy to browse repeatedly and provided images of this basic practice.These results suggested that the introduction of the WebCT that plays video with sound into the basic practice of pediatric dentistry provides understanding of the contents and techniques.

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The number of children who see a pediatric dentist for traumatic dental injuries has been increasing recently. We compared the number of children treated for traumatic dental injuries at the pediatric dentistry department of Osaka Dental University Hospital between the 1978−1987 and 1999−2008 periods.The number of first-visit patients had decreased during the latter period compared with that 20 years before ; however the rate of children treated for traumatic dental injuries increased in the latter period. The male to female ratio was 1.5−1.7 to 1, and did not differ significantly between the two periods. The highest proportion of patients was from the 1−2 year-old and 7−8 year-old groups in both periods ; however, the total number of younger children seeing a doctor increased compared with that 20 years earlier. There were more cases of dental trauma caused by falls in the latter period than the earlier period, and a decline in exercise capacity of the children seemed to be one of the causes of dental trauma. Also, the number of traumatic dental injuries occurring indoors increased in the latter period, suggesting that the children were engaging more in indoor than outdoor activities compared to 20 years earlier. The anterior maxillary teeth were the ones most frequently affected by trauma, and there was no significant difference between the two periods. In the classification of trauma, there was a similar tendency between the two periods, and luxation, characterized by slight dislocation, was the predominant type of injury in both the primary teeth and permanent teeth. A higher rate of crown fractures was observed in the permanent teeth. About half of patients with traumatic dental injuries consulted a doctor within 1 day, and the amount of time until going to a hospital and seeing a doctor became shorter compared with 20 years earlier. These results underscore the need for some caution. Early treatment of patients should be promoted in cases of traumatic dental injuries.We should devise improved environments, e.g., providing safe floor surfaces to minimize falls and safer furniture in terms of injury avoidance. Also, it appears necessary to think about improving the exercise capacity of children, and educating them about prophylaxis against trauma.

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It is important for pedodontists to understand the degree of orofacial growth and development in children and to prevent treatment induced anomalies. Dwarfism occurs in several diseases and is defined as short stature (i.e., ＜2 SD or 3 percentile less than the height of the standard value for that age and sex). Dwarfism is classified into two groups. One is caused by partial or complete inhibition of growth hormone secretion, while the other group is not. There are a number of patients with dwarfism, in Japan, but only a few reports have been published in the dental field. Therefore, to collect the evidence in dental clinical practice needed to prevent treatment induced anomalies, we evaluated the oral and craniofacial growth and development in 8 children with short statue in cooperation with the division of Orthodontics, Meikai University, Department of Pediatrics and of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Saitama Medical School. The following results were obtained ;1.Dental age was delayed relative to the chronological age in 4 of 8 children, while bone age was delayed in all children. The bone age tended to be delayed more than the dental age.2.Angle classⅡocclusion occurred in 6 of 8 children.3.There were no common findings regarding tooth size in these 8 children, but both upper and lower arch widths tended to be narrow.4.On cephalometric analysis, growth retardation in the craniofacial bones was found in all participants compared to standard values for the same age and sex. The tendency was especially remarkable in the mandibular region.

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Pediatric sialolithiasis is regarded as having a low incidence. In this study, we investigated the clinical findings of sialolithiasis in a 5 year-6-month-old boy, and examined the extracted salivary calculus using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Qualitative analysis using energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), and elemental mapping analysis using an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) were also conducted.A salivary calculus was detected around the aperture of his submandibular gland, based on his mother's complaint, although no subjective symptoms were found. The extraction was carried out by expanding the aperture with a small incision in the sublingual caruncle (i.e., a minimum invasion).SEM findings and the results of the qualitative analysis showed that the salivary calculus was discovered shortly after its formation.It is of tremendous importance to pay close attention not only to the teeth, gingiva, dentition and occlusion, but also to the entire oral cavity during an oral examination, although oral cavity management is conducted periodically in pediatric dentistry. Additionally, it may be necessary to direct mother's to observe soft tissues as well as teeth when they brush their children's teeth.

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