Nathaniel H. Rowe

A clinical study for the control of facial mucocutaneous herpes virus infections. I. Characterization of natural history in a professional school population.

One thousand thirty-one dental and dental hygiene students, faculty and staff at The University of Michigan School of Dentistry were interviewed in order to identify those with a past history of perioral mucocutaneous herpetic infection. Subsequently, the population was followed for 9 (+/- 3) months in order to determine various parameters of disease expression. Analysis of the results indicate the following: 1. In this professional population, 20.5 per cent described prior experience with perioral herpes. No sex difference was noted. 2. Prevalence increased with age. In the faculty-staff group (mean age 32.9 years +/ 11.8) prevalence was 30.7 per cent, whereas in the student -roup (mean age, io.6 years+/- 3.8) prevalence was 17.7 per cent. Occupational and/or socioeconomic factors did not appear to account for the age-related difference in prevalence. 3. Only 40 per cent of those who related prior disease experience developed lesions within the observation period of 9 (+/-3) months. 4. The recurrence rate, based upon an observation period of 9 (+/-3) months, in those persons who related prior disease experience was found to be 1.3 episodes per year (0.1 per month). 5. Duration of lesions ranged between 3 and 17 days, with a mean of 9 days. 6. The lower lip was the most common site of a lesion. 7. Triggering factors associated with development of a lesion in order of decreasing frequency were found to be; emotional stress, exposure to sun, and illness.

Peroral Famciclovir in the Treatment of Experimental Ultraviolet Radiation-Induced Herpes Simplex Labialis: A Double-Blind, Dose-Ranging, Placebo-Controlled, Multicenter Trial

Three doses of famciclovir were tested for treatment of experimental ultraviolet radiation (UVR)-induced herpes labialis. Patients received 125, 250, or 500 mg of famciclovir or placebo 3 times a day for 5 days beginning 48 h after UVR exposure, a model of early episodic intervention. Of 248 patients irradiated, 102 developed lesions while on treatment. There were no significant differences between groups in the number of lesions. The mean maximal lesion size was reduced in a dose-proportional manner: 139, 105, 77, and 55 mm2 for the placebo and 125-, 250-, and 500-mg famciclovir groups, respectively (P=.040, linear regression). Median time to healing was faster in the 500-mg famciclovir group than in the placebo group, both by investigator (4 vs. 6 days, 33% reduction, P=.010) and patient assessment (3.0 vs. 5.8 days, 48% reduction, P=.008) analyses. These findings suggest that evaluation of higher drug doses for herpes labialis treatment is warranted.

Apical healing with retrofilling materials amalgam and gutta-percha

After apicoectomy, healing was histologically evaluated to compare gutta-percha and amalgam as retrograde filling materials. Rhesus monkeys were used for the study that covered a healing period of fifteen weeks. Both materials were equally well tolerated.

A study of environmental influence upon salivary gland neoplasia in rats

An animal model system was used in an attempt to explore suspect relationships between 3 groups of possible carcinogenic co‐factors (nutritional, endocrine, and thermal) and the seemingly high salivary gland cancer experience of Arcticdwelling Eskimos. Two hundred and thirty weanling Sprague‐Dawley rats were randomized into 7 groups to study effects of vitamin A deficiency, hypercortisonism, hyperthyroidism, hypercortisonism plus hyperthyroidism combined, and a windy, cold, humid environment upon submaxillary salivary glands challenged with implanted 20 percent 7,12‐dimethylbenzanthracene pellets. Animals were sacrificed at 14 weeks. Of the 7 regimens, only vitamin A deficiency increased malignant epithelial neoplasm yield. Increased yield in vitamin A deficient group (I) compared to the sum of nutritionally adequate control groups (II and III) was significant at the 0.001 level, and with all groups II‐VII individually (p = 0.0001) or combined (p = 0.00004). No significant yield difference was found among the other 6 groups (II‐VII).

Tissue response to an electric pulp tester.

1 he electric pulp tester used to determine tooth vitality has served dentistry since 1867 when it was introduced by Magitot. 1 It remains one of the most useful means of clinically differentiating between vital and nonvital teeth.2 Successful use depends upon an electrical impulse traversing mineralized dental tissues to stimulate pulpal nerves. Despite widespread use of the tester, little is known about the constancy of pulpal sensitivity at different times or under different conditions. Also, it has been stated that prolonged “stimulation at high intensities causes irreversible damage to the tooth.“3 Whether electric pulp testers currently in use are capable of producing irreversible pulp damage is not known. The purpose of this study was to determine whether they are capable of producing morphologic alteration of pulpal tissue.

Effects of Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereals on Dental Caries Experience in Adolescent Children: A Three-Year Study

The 375 adolescent public school children who participated in a permissive three-year breakfast consumption study showed no differences in dental caries experience whether they ate ready-to-eat breakfast cereals or other dietary regimens.

Control of pain with meclofenamate sodium following removal of an impacted molar

The analgesic effectiveness of meclofenamate sodium (Meclomen) at two dose levels, 200 mg and 100 mg, was compared with the effectiveness of a placebo and aspirin, 600 mg, in a double-blind study of 174 adult outpatients who had undergone removal of impacted third molars. When compared with the placebo, meclofenamate sodium at either dose level produced a significantly greater reduction in pain intensity, greater pain relief, fewer withdrawals for inefficacy, greater percentage of patients who considered their medication effective, and greater percentage of patients considered by the investigator to have received drug-attributable benefits. In comparison with aspirin, 600 mg, meclofenamate sodium at either 200 mg or 100 mg produced significantly greater reduction in pain intensity and greater pain relief. The other measures of efficacy showed no significant differences between the two drugs. Side effects were minimal in all treatment groups. Meclofenamate sodium appears to be a safe and effective analgesic for the control of pain.

A clinical trial of topically applied 3 percent vidarabine against recurrent herpes labialis.

Seventy-six participants were enrolled in a clinical trial to determine therapeutic effectiveness of 3 percent vidarabine applied topically to recurrent perioral herpetic lesions. Following a 6- to- 12-month natural history phase, a 12-month clinical trial was conducted. Seventy participants developed 463 lesions during 361 episodes. Three percent vidarabine in a water-miscible gel was applied six times daily for 7 days to each lesion in the experimental group. Identically packaged placebo was used by the control group. Group assignment was by computer-generated randomization. Lesion size was reduced when vidarabine, rather than placebo, was applied. The difference was statistically significant (Students t test, P = 0.02). Vesiculation followed tingling more rapidly when vidarabine, rather than placebo, was applied prior to vesiculation (P = 0.05). No significant difference between the two groups was found in episode frequency or lesion duration. Adverse reactions to vidarabine were not experienced.

Control of pain by mefenamic acid following removal of impacted molar. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

The efficacy of mefenamic acid, aspirin, and placebo in the control of postsurgical pain was compared in a double-blind, randomized study of forty-seven patients. Medication was begun as soon as the anesthetic began to wear off and was continued as needed to a maximum of eight doses over a 48-hour period. The results were analyzed in terms of the patients assessment of postsurgical pain, and the patients and the investigators evaluation of drug efficacy. In the population studied, mefenamic acid was well tolerated. Mefenamic acid was clearly superior to placebo and equalled or exceeded the ability of aspirin to control postsurgical pain in the parameters measured.

Parent-Child Similarities in Dental Caries Rates

Since parents and their school-aged children constitute genetically related individuals living together, parent-child decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) comparisons offer opportunities to examine the familial influence on dental caries. Appropriate designs allow exploration of the possible influence of sex, apart from sexlinkage, and comparison of caries rates in children of parental extremes. Understandably, such studies demand very large sample sizes, comparisons at narrow age intervals, and (ideally) different racial groupings. To accomplish this, we made use of permanent tooth DMFT data on 6,580 parent-child pairs (4,075 white and 2,505 black) from the TenState Nutrition Survey of 1967-1970 (Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Publication No. HSM 72-8131), comparing age-corrected DMFT of the parents with those of their offspring, arranged by one-year intervals from ages 6 through 18. Since preliminary correlations were comparable for boys and girls, final (pooled) correlations were based on the sex of the parent alone (mother-child, father-child) and the age of the child (midpoint ages 6 through 18) . As given in the table, 52 parent-child correlations for the DMFT were both positive and sta:is:ically significant overall, being systematically higher for 26 mother-child than for 26 father-child age pairs, a trend significant at any useful level of confidence. Similarly, parent-child