Indian Dental Association Launches "Child Task Force" Project Report By Pranav Damle

The Indian Dental Association launched its prestigious project “Child Task Force” on Sunday, February 28, 2010, at a glittering function organized at the Taj Lands End, Bandra. Under its banner, Child Dental Centre, IDA has plans to initiate a preventive programme to intercept dental caries with the aim of significantly improving child dental health in the country and eradicating dental caries, one of the commonest dental problems affecting almost 80 per cent of the child population in the country.

Consistent with its long-standing commitment to improving oral health among school children, IDA announced today at the launch of the Child Task Force the establishment of a Child Dental Center for prevention of dental caries among children. This Center will undertake, besides oral check up programmes of school children, the correct method of brushing, teacher and parent education programmes to create dental awareness, provision of critically needed preventive dental services through promotion of sealants and fluoride gells for prevention of dental caries through school based oral health programmes.

The Child Dental Centre, to begin with, plans to undertake a dental check up of school children in 86000 primary schools in Maharashtra State and will help the school maintain oral health records of primary school children.

Oral health is passing through a rapid transition consistent with the changing scenario of medical and scientific knowledge. In order to effectively meet the challenges posed by these changes, policy makers need the information, capacity and tools to assess and monitor health needs, choose intervention strategies and design policy options appropriate to the given situations. The findings of the school dental check ups under the IDA Child Dental Center, it is felt, would go a long way in improving the oral health scenario of school children in the country.

Answer And Win A Pocket Atlas Of Oral Diseases, Softbound Quiz No. 10001

Pocket Atlas Of Oral Diseases by G. Laskaris, Thieme Publications, Pages 370

Table of Contents For The Book.

Quiz Questions
Q1. Can Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Affect Patients With Bone Grafts Of Bovine Origin ?
1. Yes
2. No

Q2. Which Antibiotic Removes Smear Layer From Root Canals ?
1. Doxycycline
2. Penicillin

Q3. Can Bone Regeneration Occur In Uncontrolled Diabetic Patients ?
1. Yes
2. No

Terms And Conditions

1. The quiz is open only For Indian Dental Association Members
2. Last date of receipt of answers is 28 February 2010.
3. Shipping address for the book (prize) only in India.
4. All answers should be written below in the comment box. E-mails not entertained.
5. In case of more than one candidate with maximum number of correct answers, a draw will be taken out.
6. The announced prize cannot be exchanged with any other form of cash or object.
7. Please choose a working email because all the further correspondence will be done through emails.
8. Do not write your address in the comment section, you will be contacted through your email, for address if your entry wins.
9. Prizes will be announced on 4th of March 2010.
10. Please check the site for the announcement of results.

Which Antibiotic Removes Smear Layer From Root Canals ?

Recent study shows that doxycycline is effective in removing the smear layer from the cervical and middle third of the root canal. The study was conducted in four groups comprising of G1- Doxycycline, G2- Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid + Sodium hypochlorite, G3- Doxycycline + Sodium hypochlorite, G4- Water.
Ref: Australian Endodontic Journal 
DOI 10.1111/j.1747-4477.2009.00191.x

Stem Cell Dentistry: Charismatic Regeneration

Stem cells are unspecialized cells which can renew themselves and give birth to various specialized cells (totipotent cells, pleuripotent cells, multipotent cells and progenitor cells) that constitute an embryo. They act as basic building blocks and have a potential to repair the damaged and regenerate new organs and tissues.


Stem cells of dental origin:
* Bone marrow stem cells
* Dentin pulp stem cells
* Periodontal ligament stem cells
* Cemetoblast like cells
* SHED(Stem cells of human exfoliated and deciduous teeth)
* Wisdom teeth

Major prospective uses of stem cells in dentistry:

Development of a new tooth
Primary teeth, wisdom tooth, jaw bones, periodontal ligament and pulp are used to regenerate an entire tooth, restore nerve cells damaged in Parkinson’s disease , correction of cleft palate and treatment of missing teeth replacing the removable dentures and implants. Eg -If a tooth is injured during an accident usually root canals are needed and the tooth dies, instead stem cell aided new pulp can be generated in a tooth.

Regenerative techniques for periodontal diseases
In the coming future, periodontium injectible gel will prove to be useful in the development of new periodontal tissues through guided tissue and bone regeneration techniques.
[Injectible gel is a mixture of ex-vivo cultured mesenchymal stem cells, ex-vivo cultured osteoblast like cells differentiated from mesenchymal stem cells and scaffold {human thrombin, platelet rich plasma and calcium chloride}]

Dentofacial orthopaedics
Mesenchymal stem cells provide a continuous supply of osteogenic cells (osteoblasts and chondroblasts) required for bone remodelling and fracture repair throughout adulthood. Therefore these cells play a significant role in the field of growth modification in orthodontics.


Fractures:
Especially delayed non union fractures.

Geno-dental interrelations:
Stem cells in the cervical loop of continuously growing mouse incisors shows that their maintenance and differentiation depends on genetic signal pathways (FGF –Fibroblast Growth Factor and Ectodysplastin)
They are used to correct defects caused by ectodermal dysplasia and cleidocranial dysplasia. 

About The Author:

Dr. Dipika Bumb; www.omrcafe.blogspot.com;
Contact email: drdipikabumb@gmail.com