Abdul Rashid Ismail

Oral mucosal lesions in non oral habit diabetic patients and association of diabetes mellitus with oral precancerous lesions.

AIMS This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of oral mucosal lesions (OML) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and non-diabetic subjects without any oral habits and to investigate the association of DM with oral precancerous lesions. METHODS This cross-sectional study involved 420 diabetic and 420 non-diabetic control subjects without any oral habits. Detailed oral examination was performed based on international criteria. RESULTS A significantly greater proportion of subjects with DM (45%) had one or more OML in comparison to non-diabetics (38.3%). Patients with DM showed a significantly greater prevalence of geographic tongue, denture stomatitis and angular cheilitis than non-diabetics (p<0.05). The results also showed an association between occurrence of one or more OML and metabolic control of diabetic patients (p<0.05). For precancerous lesions, lichen planus was found in two diabetic patients while none of controls had any precancerous lesion (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS Prevalence of OML was significantly higher in diabetic patients than non-diabetics and this prevalence was associated with the metabolic control of the patients. However, no association was observed between DM and oral precancerous lesions.

Genotoxicity evaluation of locally produced dental porcelain--an in vitro study using the Ames and Comet assays.

The aim of this study was to determine the genotoxicity of a locally produced dental porcelain (Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia) using the Ames and Comet assays. In the Ames assay, four genotypic variants of the Salmonella strains (TA98, TA100, TA1537 and TA1535) carrying mutations in several genes were used. The dental porcelain was incubated with these four strains in five different doses both in the presence and absence of metabolic activation (S9) and the result was assessed based on the number of revertant colonies. Concurrently, appropriate positive controls were used so as to validate the test. The average number of revertant colonies per plate treated with locally produced dental porcelain was less than double as compared to that of negative control. In the Comet assay, L929 (CCL-1 ATCC, USA) mouse fibroblast cells were treated with the dental porcelain in three different concentrations along with concurrent negative and positive controls. The tail moment which was used as a measurement of DNA damage was almost equal to that of the negative control, suggesting that the locally produced dental porcelain did not induce any DNA damage. The results indicated that the locally produced dental porcelain is non-genotoxic under the present test conditions.

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Edentulism among Elderly Muslims in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/40-4-4431 Objective : To determine the prevalence of edentulism and its associated factorsamong elderly Muslims in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. Study design : A cross-sectional study was conducted with 506 randomly selected community-dwelling elderly patients aged 60 years and older in the district of Badang, Kota Bharu, Kelantan. The participants who consented were interviewed for sociodemographic information and followed by an oral examination to record edentulism. Results : The prevalence of edentulism was 55.9% (95% CI=51.67, 60.50). Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that older age groups of the elderly, 70-79 years and 80 years and older, were more likely to be edentulous, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.9 (95% confidence interval [CI] =1.2, 3.1) and OR=4.0 (95% CI=2.0, 8.1) respectively, compared to the younger elderly 60-69 years old. Women are more likely to be edentulous (OR=2.0, 95% CI=1.3, 3.1). Conclusion : Older women are more likely to be edentulous. More efforts are required to promote retention of teeth among younger women so that this cohort will not be edentulous when its members reach old age.

In Vitro Cytotoxic Evaluation of Processed Natural Coral in Human Osteoblasts

This study aimed to evaluate the in vitro cytotoxic effects of locally produced processed natural coral (PNC) using human osteoblasts (HOS). Cytotoxicity was not observed when HOS cells were cultured with PNC, as assessed by (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2-5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide; MTT) and Neutral Red (NR) assays at concentration up 200 mg/mL for up to 72 hours. Flow cytometry (FCM) analysis showed that PNC (200 mg/mL) did not decrease viability of HOS cells after 48 and 72 hours of treatment. In a cell attachment study, the HOS cells attached to the edge of the PNC disc, and later grew into the pores of the PNC disc. All results from these studies indicate that locally produced PNC material is noncytotoxic and favors the growth of HOS cells.