Alexandre Coelho Machado

Sports dentistry: a perspective for the future

Sports Dentistry (SD) acts in the prevention, maintenance and treatment of oral and facial injuries, as well as the collection and dissemination of information on dental trauma, beyond stimulus to research. Establishes as a duty for the dentist detect problems related to the athlete’s stomatognathic system. This essay is based on the provided data from the literature related to SD, including definition, practice areas and research fields. To discuss the data, six areas were categorized: shares in sports dentistry; oral health of athlete; sports-related dental implications; dental-facial trauma; face shields; and mouthguards. The analyzed data show that the SD is still an underexplored field of action by dentists, but it is expanding, despite not being recognized specialty by the Federal Council of Dentistry, but the Brazilian Academy of Sports Dentistry has been created with a mission to show the real importance of Dentistry in sport. The dentist should be part of the group of professionals associated with the athlete to perform periodic checks in order to ensure oral health which may contribute to athletes´performance. When impact occurs, however, it would be possible reduce the severity of the impact related to injuries, by using helmets, masks, goggles, face shields and mouthguard. Additionally, it is imperative that dentists, sports coaching, athletes, and professional who work with athletes be aware of the benefits of incorporating SD as an important academic and professional subject.

The dentin chemical degradation and saliva roles on Noncarious Cervical Lesions – literature review

This review elucidates the dental structure chemical degradation and saliva roles in the origin and progression of NCCLs. Dentin chemical degradation is a predominant factor that contributes to the origin and progression of noncarious cervical lesions, which includes the biocorrosive factors: chemical, biochemical, electrochemical and piezoelectric dentin effects. The biocorrosive process involves endogenous and exogenous agents. As regard to saliva roles, the flow rate, buffering capacity, pH and its protein composition are valid parameters to identify biocorrosive factors. Thus, the association of acids agents, altered salivary parameters and specifics proteases are important conditions to promote dental wear. It can be concluded that endogenous and exogenous acids agents, salivary parameters and specific oral biomarkers are important to support the diagnostic and management of dental wear and noncarious cervical lesions.

Effects of non‐carious cervical lesion size, occlusal loading and restoration on biomechanical behaviour of premolar teeth

BACKGROUND Information on fracture biomechanics has implications in materials research and clinical practice. The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of non-carious cervical lesion (NCCL) size, restorative status and direction of occlusal loading on the biomechanical behaviour of mandibular premolars, using finite element analysis (FEA), strain gauge tests and fracture resistance tests. METHODS Ten buccal cusps were loaded on the outer and inner slopes to calculate the strain generated cervically. Data were collected for healthy teeth at baseline and progressively at three lesion depths (0.5 mm, 1.0 mm and 1.5 mm), followed by restoration with resin composite. The magnitude and distribution of von Mises stress and maximum principal stress were simulated at all stages using FEA, and fracture strength was also determined (n = 7 per group). RESULTS There were significant effects of the lesion size and loading directions on stress, strain and fracture resistance (p < 0.05). Fracture resistance values decreased with increase in lesion size, but returned to baseline with restorations. CONCLUSIONS Combined assessment of computer-based and experimental techniques provide an holistic approach to characterize the biomechanical behaviour of teeth with both unrestored and restored NCCLs.