Adrielle Mangabeira Santos

Perception of the esthetic impact of gingival smile on laypersons, dental professionals, and dental students.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate perceptions regarding esthetic appearance of the smile in cases of orthognathic surgery for correction of maxillary gingival display. STUDY DESIGN Alterations were made to an extraoral front-view photograph of a gingival smile in normal occlusion by repositioning the maxilla to simulate bone tissue removal and gingival exposure. Images were printed on photographic paper attached to questionnaires distributed among laypersons, professionals, and dental students to evaluate degree of esthetics (n = 150). To evaluate degree of esthetics, an attractiveness-scale was used, with 0 representing hardly attractive, 5 attractive, and 10 very attractive. RESULTS All of the evaluated groups demonstrated that large gingival extension does not always affect esthetic appearance of the smile. Insufficiently visualized maxillary incisors were considered hardly attractive and received statistically lower scores (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS According to esthetic parameters, gingiva play important roles in composition of the smile, but only when they are exposed to a small extent.

Perception of the esthetic impact of mandibular incisor extraction treatment on laypersons, dental professionals, and dental students.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the degree of perception of laypersons, dental professionals, and dental students regarding dental esthetics in cases with mandibular central incisor extraction. MATERIALS AND METHODS Using a smile photograph of a person with normal occlusion and all teeth, modifications were made to reflect the extraction of a mandibular incisor of various compositions and sizes. For this purpose a program specifically for image manipulation (Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe Systems Inc) was used. After manipulation the images were printed on photographic paper, attached to a questionnaire and distributed to laypersons, dental professionals, and dental students (n  =  90) to evaluate the degree of perception and esthetic using a scale of attractiveness, where 0  =  hardly attractive, 5  =  attractive, and 10  =  very attractive. The differences between examiners were checked by the Mann-Whitney test. All the statistics were performed with a confidence level of 95%. RESULTS The results demonstrated the skill of the dental professionals and dental students in perceiving the difference between cases of normal occlusion and cases where an incisor was lacking (P < .05). The photograph in which the lateral incisors were shown to be larger than the central incisor was the one that obtained the highest value among the cases of extraction in all groups of evaluators. CONCLUSIONS It can be concluded that dental professionals and dental students are more skillful at identifying deviation from normality. In addition, central incisor extraction should always be discarded when there are other treatment options available.

Effectiveness of varnish with CPP-ACP in prevention of caries lesions around orthodontic brackets: an OCT evaluation

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the in vitro efficiency of applying varnish containing casein phosphopeptide (CPP) and amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) in prevention of caries lesions around orthodontic brackets. MATERIALS AND METHODS For this purpose, brackets were bonded to the vestibular surface of bovine incisors, and eight groups were formed (n = 15) according to exposure of oral hygiene substances and enamel varnish: 1 (control) brushing only performed, 2 (control) brushing + use of mouth wash with fluoride, 3 Duraphat varnish application only (Colgate-Palmolive Ind. E Com. Ltda, São Paulo, SP, Brazil), 4 Duraphat + brushing, 5 Duraphat + brushing + mouth wash, 6 MI Varnish application (GC America, USA), 7 MI + brushing, and 8 MI + brushing + mouth wash. The experimental groups alternated between pH cycling and the procedures described and were kept in an oven at temperature of 37°C. Both brushing and immersion in solutions was performed in a time interval of 1 minute, followed by washing in deionized water three times a day for 28 days of experimentation. Afterwards, evaluation by optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the special type (Ganymede OCT/Thorlabs, Newton, USA) was performed. In each group, a scanning exam of the white spot lesion area (around the region where brackets were bonded) and depth measurement of caries lesions were performed. RESULTS Groups 1 and 3 were shown to differ statistically from groups 5, 6, 7, and 8 (p = 0.000). MI Varnish was shown to be more effective in diminishing caries lesion depth, compared with Duraphat, irrespective of being associated with brushing and mouth wash, or not. LIMITATIONS The major limitation of this study is that it is a study in which demineralization was obtained with the use of chemical products, and did not occur due to the presence of Streptococcus mutans and its acid byproducts. CONCLUSION Application CPP-ACP-containing varnish irrespective of being associated with brushing and mouthwash, or not, reduced depth of caries lesions around orthodontic brackets.