Indonesian Dental Students' Attitudes, Knowledge, Preparation, and Willingness to Treat HIV/AIDS Patients

Objective To assess the Indonesian dental students' knowledge of HIV/AIDS in terms of transmission and oral manifestation, the attitudes toward people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), the preparedness in infection control, and willingness to treat PLWHA, and assess the factors for willingness to treat PLWHA. Materials and Methods A modified version of a questionnaire used to assess dental students' knowledge, attitude, preparedness, and willingness to treat PLWHA in China was used. The questionnaire was cross-culturally adapted into Indonesian and had been pre-tested for face validity and test and retest reliability. The dental students from 32 dental schools in Indonesia were invited to participate in the study. Results A total of 1,280 dental students from 23 dental schools participated in the study. This study found that only 63% of students scored higher than 70% for knowledge of HIV/AIDS, and the mean score for knowledge was 15.02 (2.4). Higher than 80% of students had a positive professional attitude toward PWLHA; however, 80% of students worried about possible disease transmission in the dental office by PLWHA and 70% of students overestimated the occupational risk when treating PLWHA. The dental students had good preparedness for infection control with a mean score for preparedness of 3.19 (0.4). The mean score for willingness was 2.5 (0.9). Willingness to treat significantly differed by the type of universities, gender, age, and clinical experience. This study showed that knowledge about HIV/AIDS correlated with the willingness to treat PLWHA among dental students. Conclusion Dental students who have good knowledge about HIV infection tend to have a good willingness to treat PLWHA. The knowledge would in turn affect their attitude, preparedness, and willingness to provide care for PLWHA with confidence and comfort. This study suggests that the improvement of dental training may play an important role in changing students' perception of willingness to treat PLWHA.

Oral manifestation of post cancer therapy

Oral cancer has become serious health issues. It is owing to a variety of factors including poor hygiene, tobacco usage, chewing tobacco, smoking, and others. Along with surgery and chemotherapy, the most common treatments include radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Patients with cancer may experience oral toxic effects as a result of antineoplastic therapy such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. A variety of factors influence radiation, including the oral mucosa's fast cell turnover rate, the richness and complexity of the oral microbiota, and soft tissue stress during normal mouth function. The present literature review is for awareness regarding the main oral manifestation secondary to post cancer therapy.

EVALUATION OF THE ORAL SYMPTOMS IN COVID 19 PATIENTS IN KAMRUP METRO- A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

The novel coronavirus are found to affect the ACE2 receptors in the epithelial cells of the lining of the respiratory tract. Since live virus have been found in the saliva of infected patients, and ACE2 receptors are present in epithelial lining of salivary glands and tongue, there are chances that the virus might affect the oral cavity and hence might have oral manifestation. The aim of the study was to determine and evaluate the presence of oral symptoms in the patients infected with the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (Covid 19). In this cross sectional descriptive study, a set of questionnaires was MATERIALS AND METHODS: formulated and the patients who have come to covid screening centers in Kamrup Metro region were interviewed for both oral symptoms and general symptoms. A total of 467 patients were evaluated. The samples were divided according to covid positive or negative. Group 1: Covid positive (+ve); Group 2: Covid negative (- ve). Out of which Group 1 had 287 patients whereas Group 2 had 180 patients. Upon statist RESULTS: ical analysis, signicant differences were found with respect to fever, cough, breathing difficulty, sore throat, arthralgia, and asthenia where covid positive patients found to have a high prevalence of these symptoms. On evaluation of the of the oral symptoms in both covid positive and negative patients signicant differences were found viz., burning sensation, swollen gums , changes in taste sensation, pain in the TMJ and bleeding gums with covid positive patients having more predilection of having all these symptoms. On evaluation of the gender predilection between positive patients with symptoms, positive patients without symptoms and negative patients with symptoms , there found to be no signicant difference. oral CONCLUSION symptoms of burning sensation, changes in taste sensation , bleeding gums and pain in the TMJ are found to be more prevalent with patients having corona virus infection.

Oral and dental manifestations of celiac disease in children: a case–control study

Background Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated enteropathy. CD may also involve complications with the oral cavity, which can result in various dental and oral pathologies. There are currently a limited number of studies on the oral manifestation of CD. This study aims to compare the oral manifestations of children with CD against healthy controls in Saudi Arabia. Materials and methods This study includes 208 children aged 6–14 years, distributed equally into CD patients and healthy controls. A parent completed and validated the interview questionnaire, which included the child's personal information and medical history. A dental examination was undertaken to measure possible recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS), dental enamel defects (DEDs), dental caries experience, and dental malocclusion. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and bivariate and multivariate analysis. Results Two hundred and eight participants were included (104 CD patients and 104 controls). The mean age for CD patients was 10.67 ± 2.39 years and 10.69 ± 2.36 for the healthy controls. CD children had more RAS than controls (42.3% vs. 15.4%, P < 0.001) (OR = 4.03, 95% CI = 2.09–7.81) and more DEDs than healthy controls (70.2% vs. 34.6%, P < 0.001) (OR = 4.45, 95% CI = 2.48–7.97). No significant difference was found in the frequency of malocclusion between cases and controls. Conclusion Saudi Arabian children with CD had a greater number of clinical findings of RAS and DEDs than healthy controls. Pediatric dentists should consider the possibility of CD in child patients presenting with RAS or DEDs.

Oral manifestation of multiple myeloma: a case report

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a relatively uncommon oncohematological condition characterized by abnormal proliferation of plasma cells. Oral manifestations of MM can occur in soft and intraosseous parts. We present a case of a 69-year-old man diagnosed with MM and undergoing chemotherapy, referred to the dental service complaining of a nodular swelling in the maxilla. An incisional biopsy was conducted and the histopathological analysis showed a monoclonal proliferation of plasma cells with a positive CD 138 immunophenotype, which allowed the diagnosis of extramedullary plasmacytoma. The outcome of the case was unfavorable and the patient died. We emphasize the importance of diagnosing MM extramedullary disease in the maxillofacial region.

Why Oral Medicine is an exemplary choice for specialty? A Comprehensive Review

The purpose of this article was to describe a narrative review of the literature for understanding the reasons behind Oral Medicine gaining popularity as a choice for post graduate specialty training. Oral Medicine is the intersection of medicine and dentistry, and the clinicians are responsible for the management of oral mucosal disease, salivary gland dysfunction and oral manifestation of systemic disease, and facial pain in the definition of oral medicine and hence having a wide range of responsibilities. Breadth of knowledge on medically complex patients for example, rheumatologic, cardiovascular, cancer, endocrine, immuno-deficiency patients is required, which makes it an extremely interesting specialty and enables the clinicians to provide interdisciplinary care to the patients. It is important for dental education to foster new techniques in learning and preparing the students for clinical skills prior to patient care. The scope of impact of Oral Medicine has increased over the years, leading to it gaining popularity amongst dentists to take it up as a specialty training. The future direction of the study will be to understand how to enhance the research, clinical practice, and education for Oral Medicine.

Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Genetic Blueprints on the Oral Manifestation of COVID-19: A Case Report

Nonsegmented positive-sense RNA enveloped RNA severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus can result in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This virus is from β-coronaviridae family of viruses. The common signs and symptoms of COVID-19 include pyrexia, cough, dyspnea, fatigue, myalgia, cephalgia, diarrhea, and nausea. Physicians and dentists around the world could directly link the COVID-19 and oral diseases such as ageusia and anosmia. After time passes, different aspects of symptoms of the diseases have been discovered. Research suggests that the oral cavity is the most vulnerable region for the virus because of angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) receptor abundance in the mouth. In this case report (no. of patients = 6), we would like to report significant findings in patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 reported to our clinic during May 2021 complaining about the oral manifestation of it such as xerostomia, gingival inflammation, and cracked teeth. All patients are younger than 40 years with no history of dental complaints and oral diseases. Fortunately, these symptoms are not life threatening and treatable/manageable by current treatment options. To date, there is no clear proof of how and via which pathway, SARS-CoV-2 genomic blueprint causes the oral manifestation of COVID-19 beside ACE2 receptor which is the only known biopathway for such incidents.