Dental school quality assessment: Effect of student calibration on the outcomes of fixed prosthodontic cases.

Background: Quality assurance (QA) of predoctoral dental student laboratory work is an essential part of the learning process that involves evaluating the student's ability, providing constructive feedback, helping develop the students' ability to self-assess, and promoting collegiality and communication among students, faculty, and laboratories. Faculty calibration, while often difficult to coordinate, is also necessary to providing consistent student feedback.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether periodic calibration exercises with the fourth-year dental students and faculty impacted the number of student cases rejected during Quality Assurance evaluation of fixed prosthodontic cases submitted to The Dental College of Georgia laboratory tracking.

Effect of silane contamination on dentin bond strength.

Statement Of Problem: Intraoral repair of porcelain or other silica-based ceramics typically requires the use of silane in the repair protocol. Some porcelain intraoral repairs also involve bonding to exposed or involved tooth tissues including dentin. A study is needed to evaluate whether the cross-contamination of dentin with silane affects bond strength to this tissue.

Fiber-reinforced interim fixed dental prostheses: A clinical protocol.

Repairing or refabricating interim fixed dental prostheses can be a source of frustration in terms of lost productivity and inconvenience to the patient. The technique for reinforcing interim fixed dental prosthetic restorations described here will provide added strength and durability. The technique can be used either indirectly or for the direct intraoral fabrication of the interim prosthesis, thereby yielding predictable and esthetic results.

Cytotoxicity and osteogenic potential of silicate calcium cements as potential protective materials for pulpal revascularization.

Objectives: In pulpal revascularization, a protective material is placed coronal to the blood clot to prevent recontamination and to facilitate osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells to produce new dental tissues. Although mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) has been the material of choice for clot protection, it is easily displaced into the clot during condensation. The present study evaluated the effects of recently introduced calcium silicate cements (Biodentine and TheraCal LC) on the viability and osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) by comparing with MTA Angelus.

In vitro biocompatibility and oxidative stress profiles of different hydraulic calcium silicate cements.

Introduction: MTA Plus is a new calcium silicate cement with unknown cytotoxicity characteristics. The objectives of this study were to examine the effect of MTA Plus on the viability, apoptosis/necrosis profile, and oxidative stress levels of rat odontoblast-like cells.

Methods: MDPC-23 cells were exposed to gray and white MTA Plus (GMTAP, WMTAP), gray and white ProRoot MTA (GMTA, WMTA) cements, or their eluents.

A quadrant tray and bite registration as an alternative to dual-arch impressions for fixed prosthetics: a clinical and dental laboratory technique.

To perform fixed prosthodontic procedures, dentists take a full-arch or quadrant impression and articulate the casts. The dual-arch impression technique is a popular quadrant technique for crown fabrication. The technique described in this article, which uses a quadrant impression and separate interocclusal record, offers several advantages over the traditional dual-arch method.

Predictable repair of provisional restorations.

Unlabelled: The importance of provisional restorations is often downplayed, as they are thought of by some as only "temporaries." As a result, a less-than-ideal provisional is sometimes fabricated, in part because of the additional chair time required to make provisional modifications when using traditional techniques. Additionally, in many dental practices, these provisional restorations are often fabricated by auxillary personnel who may not be as well trained in the fabrication process.

Hardness comparison of bulk-filled/transtooth and incremental-filled/occlusally irradiated composite resins.

Statement Of Problem: Use of a bulk-fill/transtooth composite resin insertion/irradiation technique may not provide as well polymerized a restoration as when using a conventional incremental placement/irradiation technique. Little information exists as to how the hardness of restorations produced by the 2 techniques compare.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of composite resin placement and an irradiation technique on the axial hardness at various depths in a Class I composite resin to include the influence of composite resin filler classification and shade.