The Morning Drill: June 8, 2011

A collection of dentistry and health related links/comments to start your day.

Endocrine Society Issues Practice Guideline on Vitamin D

The Endocrine Society today unveiled a Clinical Practice Guideline on the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of vitamin D deficiency, with an emphasis on the care of patients who are at risk for vitamin D deficiency.

Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD, from Boston University Medical Center, Massachusetts, who chaired the 8-member task force that developed the guideline, summarized the recommendations at a press briefing here at ENDO 2011: The Endocrine Society 93rd Annual Meeting.

The guideline also was published online June 6 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

"Based on all the evidence, at a minimum, we recommend vitamin D levels of 30 ng/mL, and because of the vagaries of some of the assays, to guarantee sufficiency, we recommend between 40 and 60 ng/mL for both children and adults," Dr. Holick said.

The society's clinical practice guideline was developed by "experts in the field who carefully reviewed the current literature and features the latest and most comprehensive recommendations available on the prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency," he said.

The guideline recommends that clinicians screen for vitamin D deficiency in people at risk for deficiency, including obese individuals, blacks, pregnant and lactating women, and patients with malabsorption syndromes.

One in five Scots give dental hygiene the brush-off

SCOTS have the worst dental hygiene in the UK with nearly one in five adults regularly skipping brushing their teeth in the morning, a new survey reveals.

A massive 20% also admitted to having gone without brushing their teeth for more than two days in the past. The findings help explain why Scots suffer such bad teeth. One study in Greater Glasgow found tooth decay in a quarter of three-year-olds.

Robert Kinloch, chair of the British Dental Association’s Scottish Council, said: “Scotland has an unenviable record on oral health. The results of this survey, which suggest large numbers of Scots are not brushing their teeth as regularly as they should, help to explain some of the oral health problems that dentists see as they care for patients.”

The British Dental Health Foundation, a registered charity, asked 1000 people across the UK about their teeth brushing habits as part of a campaign to improve practice.

In Scotland, 18% said they regularly failed to brush their teeth in the morning. This compares to 11% across the UK as a whole. Some 45% of Scots said they regularly failed to clean their teeth at night – similar to the UK result of 47%.

Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, said: “Anyone who regularly skips brushing their teeth – morning or night-time – is storing up oral health problems for the future such as tooth decay and gum disease – the biggest cause of tooth loss often resulting in the need for bridges, dentures or implants.”

While men are not known for taking their health seriously, the survey suggests women are more careless when it comes to looking after their teeth.

UK-wide nearly 60% regularly fail to brush their teeth before bed, compared to 35% of men.

However, only one woman in the UK admitted to lasting longer than a week without reaching for the toothpaste while there were 32 men who fell into this category.

Mission of Mercy serves 1,378 people

The Tri-Cities Mission of Mercy served 1,378 patients and did 6,264 procedures over the course of last Friday and Saturday.

That was short of the goal of 2,500 people that Grand Island dentist Dr. Steve Anderson had talked about prior to the 2011 Mission of Mercy.

On the other hand, 2,500 people did not show up to take advantage of the free dental services offered by Mission of Mercy.

Anderson, one of the people who helped organize the 2011 Mission of Mercy, said he may have been a little ambitious in setting such a high goal.

On the other hand, he said the people who were the most motivated to get dental services - the ones who camped out 24 hours in advance of Friday's first day of Mission of Mercy and the people who showed up at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. on either Friday or Saturday - did get served.

He noted that the line had to be cut off both days when the number of patients who needed to be seen matched the number of dentists and dental hygienists who volunteered services at Mission of Mercy. He said that 130 dentists and 56 hygienists worked at some point during the two-day event.

The color differences of direct esthetic restorative materials after setting and compared with a shade guide.

Dr. Barutcigil is an assistant professor, Department of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Atatürk University, 25240, Erzurum, Turkey, c.barutcugil@yahoo.com.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The authors conducted a study to evaluate esthetic restorative materials' color differences after setting and color matching between set materials and a shade guide. Materials and

METHODS:

The authors evaluated 13 resin-based composites, one silorane-based composite, two polyacid-modified resin composites and one conventional glass ionomer cement. They measured the color parameters of the samples, which were 8 millimeters in diameter and 1.5 mm in thickness, before and after they were set according to the Commission International de l'Eclairage (CIE) L*a*b* color scale relative to standard illumination against a white background by means of a dental colorimeter. They also compared the final colors of the restorative materials with a shade guide.

RESULTS:

Color difference values for each restorative material ranged from 3.25 to 14.04. With the exception of Fuji IX (GC, Tokyo), Filtek P60 (3M ESPE) and Te-Econom (Ivoclar Vivadent), the restorative materials exhibited a perceptible color change after setting. Color difference values between the set materials and the shade guide tabs ranged from 1.86 to 11.83. With the exception of Filtek Supreme XT (3M ESPE) and Fuji IX, the materials exhibited a perceptible difference.

CONCLUSION:

Most of the materials tested exhibited a significant color change after polymerization and did not match the shade guide tab after undergoing light curing.

Enjoy your morning drill!