Maternal mental health and children oral health: a literature review

AIM

Recently, serious considerations regarding mental health conditions and their impact on the whole organism have been made. This area is still quite unknown within the dental community, despite the potential impact these conditions can have on both oral care and health. Previous studies have concluded that both pregnant women and mothers have been found to be particularly sensitive to the risk of developing mental disorders such as anxiety and major depression. There is a very high possibility for the children of these mothers to experience neglect and disregard due to of the development of these conditions, which will negatively affect their behavioural and physical growth as a result. This impact stretches into oral health as well, as these children have been reported to be more inclined to develop early childhood caries, bruxism, and after-birth enamel defects, in addition to illnesses like diabetes and disabilities.

MATERIALS

A literature search was conducted in Pubmed, Medline, and Scopus for the keywords 'maternal depression', 'oral health' and 'children', combined with 'AND' or 'OR' Boolean Operators.

CONCLUSION

The results of the present literature suggest a strong connection between maternal mental disorders and poor children's oral care, and as a result, dental professionals should be extremely careful when treating and communicating with these patients.

Soft drinks and dental erosion during pediatric age: a clinical investigation

BACKGROUND

Dental erosion is an irreversible condition of loss of teeth hard tissues caused by intrinsic or extrinsic acids attack, without bacterial involvement. Common soft drinks have an acid pH and they release hydrogen ions and act as chelating agents, dissolving teeth mineral component. The aim of the study was to investigate the correlation between the consumption of soft drinks in children and the degree of dental erosion.

METHODS

A questionnaire of 15 multiple choice questions was addressed to the parents of the 231 children needing different dental treatments. Responses were compared with the level of dental erosion of their child, that was clinically investigated using the Basic Erosive Wear Examination (BEWE) index.

RESULTS

About 26.8% of subjects fall into a high-risk category of dental erosion while 24.2% in a low risk level. Socioeconomic status and oral hygiene habits are able to affect the degree of dental erosion. Toothpastes containing fluoride have not proved effective in preventing this phenomenon and no significant correlations were found between the type of toothbrush used and its frequency of use.

CONCLUSIONS

It is necessary to apply preventive measures such as information on the processes and causes of erosion, instruction about right home oral hygiene maneuvers and the possible use of specific products, to avoid the development of problems related to severe dental wear.

Pain perception in paediatric patients: evaluation of computerised anaesthesia delivery system vs conventional infiltration anaesthesia in paediatric patients

AIM

The aim of the present study is to compare the effectiveness of a computerised system (QuickSleeper) compared to traditional syringe in injection of local anaesthetic focusing on the perception of anxiety and pain in paediatric patients.

METHODS

Study design: 100 children aged between 3 and 15 years in need of two dental treatments that required local anaesthesia were selected and treated randomly but alternately with computerised and traditional local anaesthesia. After each anaesthetic injection, patient's anxiety was measured using the Venham test.

RESULTS

Electronic anaesthesia showed statistically significant better results than traditional anaesthesia according to the Venham pain scale, in both mandibular and maxillary sites. Statistics: Data were analysed using the paired Wilcoxon test.

CONCLUSION

The computer-assisted anaesthesia system resulted in a significantly lower pain perception score and yielded to helpful, cooperative behaviour. For this reason, it is an advantageous alternative to traditional injection anaesthesia and can avoid invasive treatments and trauma for young patients.

Zirconia vs. stainless steel pediatric crowns: a literature review

The aim of this review was to assess efficacy and acceptance of aesthetic zirconia crowns (ZCs) compared to the traditionally employed stainless steel crowns (SSCs) for primary teeth restoration. A comprehensive literature search was completed for the relevant keywords in Scopus and Medline databases. Resulting article abstracts and full texts were screened to determine final inclusion. Eighteen articles were included from the initial search. There is still little evidence to support the use of one type of crowns over another for primary teeth, in particularly for ZCs, lately introduced in pediatric restoration. The gold standard for restoring decayed primary teeth is still represented by SSCs, despite the growing importance of the aesthetic issue related to their use. Aesthetic ZCs resulted in having adequate properties to be employed for the treatment of decayed primary teeth, such as mechanical resistance, limited plaque adhesion, wear behavior and natural appearance. There is still a paucity of literature clinically evaluating the efficacy of ZCs for primary teeth restoration, but they can be considered a promising alternative to SSCs. This field of research has to be more deeply explored to improve dental care in children affected by early childhood caries.