An introduction to dental implants.

The use of implants to replace missing teeth is now commonplace and practised by clinicians worldwide in both general and specialist practice. There is an abundance of evidence on the general success of implant treatment. As well as reviewing the history of dental implants, this narrative review will discuss the merits and successful placement of tissue-level verses bone-level implants.

Case Report: Long-term Structural and Functional Effects of Ethambutol Optic Neuropathy.

Significance: This case report demonstrates reduction in the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and an abnormal electroretinogram after toxic optic neuropathy from ethambutol, more than 1 year after improvements in visual acuity (VA) and visual fields (VFs) were seen. Although many studies have described complications of ethambutol, continuing reduction in RNFL thickness 2 years after discontinuation has not been described elsewhere.

Purpose: It is well known that ethambutol can cause optic nerve toxicity, visual impairment, and VF loss.

The provision of dental implants: current practice among university and hospital specialists in restorative dentistry within the UK and Ireland.

Objectives To establish current implant practice among university and hospital restorative dental specialists in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland and their opinions relating to criteria for implant treatment.Materials and methods An online questionnaire was distributed to 150 university and hospital restorative dental specialists in the UK and Ireland.Results The response rate was 27%.

Maintaining peri-implant health: an evaluation of understanding among dental hygienists and therapists in Wales.

Objectives To describe the approach taken by dental hygienists and therapists (DH/Ts) in Wales regarding dental implant maintenance. To gather their opinions about the current level of implant education.Materials and methods Online questionnaires were distributed to 257 DH/Ts within Wales.

Teaching of implant dentistry in dental hygiene and therapy schools in the UK and Ireland.

Objective The aim of this study was to assess the current status of implant teaching within dental hygiene and therapy schools in the UK and Ireland.Methods An online questionnaire relating to current and future possible trends in dental implantology education was developed and distributed to programme directors in each of the 23 dental hygiene and therapy schools in the UK and Ireland.Results All responding schools (response rate of 60%) provided implant training for their students.

Does the gender of the subject affect perceived smile aesthetics when varying the dimensions of maxillary lateral incisors?

Objective: To assess whether subject gender influences aesthetic opinion when altering the width of maxillary lateral incisors.

Method: Photographs of a male and a female smile, displaying only the lips and teeth, were digitally altered to produce images where the maxillary lateral incisor was proportioned 52%, 57%, 62%, 67%, 72% and 77% in relation to the width of the maxillary central incisor. The image was then made symmetrical.

The Use of 3D Metal Printing (Direct Metal Laser Sintering) in Removable Prosthodontics.

The use of 3D printing is expanding and it is envisaged that it will have an increasing presence within dentistry. Having an appreciation and understanding of such technology is therefore paramount. It is currently used to produce a variety of dental objects/prostheses.

Implant retention systems for implant-retained overdentures.

Implant retained overdentures are being increasingly utilised in both general and specialist practice to rehabilitate patients with missing teeth, particularly those that are edentate. This article aims to inform the reader of a variety of retention systems that are available to retain an implant overdenture and to understand how these systems work, their advantages and disadvantages and to outline some of the clinical and treatment planning considerations involved in selecting the most appropriate retention system for patients.

Should implants be considered for patients with periodontal disease?

Dental implants are seen as a good option for replacing missing teeth. The success and survival rates for implants are very high. Concerns are developing about the problem of peri-implantitis.

Removal techniques for failed implants.

The use of dental implants is an accepted and predictable way of replacing missing or lost teeth. However, implants can and will fail and there are a variety of reasons why this occurs, which the practitioner should understand. In some instances failed implants may require removal and, therefore, practitioners should be aware of techniques that can be used to remove failed implants to potentially enable future rehabilitation of an edentulous region.

Summary of: dental practitioners and a digital future: an initial exploration of barriers and incentives to adopting digital technologies.

Background: Digital technologies are proliferating into dental practices. While their technical attributes have often been studied, it remains unclear why some dentists adopt and use these technologies more than others. AIM To explore the incentives for and barriers against accepting and using digital dental technologies.

Summary of: Tooth-whitening activity of a novel home-bleaching systemutilising thermal diffusion: a multifactorial simultaneous evaluation of efficacy at cervical, body and incisal tooth sites.

Introduction: The ability of a thermal diffusion system (TDS) to promote the tooth-whitening actions of a bleaching gel/bleaching activator combination product (containing a final hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) content of 10.0% (w/v)) towards discoloured 'smile-zone' teeth was examined.

Methods: Fifty teeth in 15 participants aged 18-62 years were investigated.

Gagging during impression making: techniques for reduction.

Unlabelled: In everyday dental practice one encounters patients who either believe themselves, or subsequently prove themselves, to be gaggers. Gagging is most frequently experienced during impression making, but is also reported during the taking of radiographs, in the placement of restorations in posterior teeth and, in some individuals, the insertion of a finger for examination purposes. This paper describes some techniques that can easily be mastered by clinicians that may help both operator and patient avoid this unpleasant occurrence.

The teaching of fixed partial dentures in undergraduate dental schools in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

All areas of the practice of dentistry are evolving at a considerable pace. One area in particular which has seen a rapid revolution is the oral rehabilitation of partially dentate adults. The aim of this study was to describe the contemporary teaching of fixed partial dentures (FPDs) in dental schools in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Placement of posterior composite restorations in United Kingdom dental practices: techniques, problems, and attitudes.

Objective: To investigate the range of techniques used by U.K. general dental practitioners when placing posterior composites, their attitudes and opinions and problems encountered.

Orthodontic extrusion: an interdisciplinary approach to patient management.

Unlabelled: Root fractures that occur at the cervical margin do not always heal predictably, even following a period of splinting. This often leaves margins either sub-gingival or sub-crestal. This provides an unsatisfactory situation for restoring the remaining root as restorations will impinge on the biological width.

The teaching of implant dentistry in undergraduate dental schools in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Objectives: The objective of this paper is to describe the contemporary teaching of dental implantology to dental undergraduates in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The paper also aims to assess the attitudes of dental school educators in relation to future trends in dental implant training for dental undergraduates.

Methods: An online questionnaire relating to current and future possible trends in dental implantology education was developed and distributed to Heads of Division/Departments of Restorative Dentistry, or equivalent, in each of the 15 dental schools with undergraduate dental programmes in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Crown and bridge disassembly--when, why and how.

Crown and bridgework has a finite life span and fails for a number of reasons. Removal is often by destructive means. There are a number of clinical circumstances, however, in which a conservative disassembly would aid the practitioner in completing restorative/endodontic procedures.

'Double-veneers'--a novel approach to treating macrodontia.

Unlabelled: Macrodontia is a relatively rare but cosmetically challenging dental anomaly with different aetiologies. Where surgical interventions are inappropriate, minimal restorative interventions may be indicated. A case is described of a teenager with macrodontic central incisors who was treated with indirect composite 'double veneers'.

An in vitro study on the use of circumferential matrix bands in the placement of Class II amalgam restorations.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of a disposable metal matrix band system and the Siqveland matrix system in the restoration of a Class II preparation with amalgam. To assess the difference in amalgam overhang produced between the two systems in vitro.

Methods: A right maxillary first premolar with a Class II cavity preparation was duplicated in acrylic to produce a standardized cavity.

Attitudes of general dental practitioners in the UK to the use of composite materials in posterior teeth.

Objective: To determine the opinions and current methods used in placing posterior composite restorations by general dental practitioners.

Setting: The study was completed by general dental practitioners randomly selected from across the UK.

Method: A questionnaire was devised to gain this information.

Crown and bridge disassembly--when, why and how.

Unlabelled: Crown and bridgework has a finite life span and fails for a number of reasons. Removal is often by destructive means. There are a number of clinical circumstances, however, in which a conservative disassembly would aid the practitioner in completing restorative/endodontic procedures.