Electrical stimulation to clinically identify position of the lingual nerve: results of 50 subjects with reliability and correlation with MRI.

Purpose: Recently we described mapping of the lingual nerve clinically in patients using electrical nerve stimulation. This paper reports results of a larger study with inter- and intra-observer reliability and comparison with positional measurements from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Methods: In 50 healthy participants, measurements were taken when subjects felt a tingling sensation in the tongue induced by a stimulation probe over the lingual nerve.

Is the number of procedures completed a valid indicator of final year student competency in operative dentistry?

Introduction Concerns regarding the preparedness of dental graduates often focus on the number of procedures undertaken before qualification.Aims To assess the validity of numerical requirements in determining whether a student has sufficient competency to graduate.Materials and methods In total, 50,821 observations of student activity while on the restorative clinic, for two integrated student cohorts (n = 139), were continuously recorded using the LiftUpp system from their third year to graduation.

Dental Pain: Dentine Sensitivity, Hypersensitivity and Cracked Tooth Syndrome.

Dentine hypersensitivity is a frequently encountered patient complaint that can present with a number of associated factors including erosion and abrasion. the hydrodynamic mechanism responsible for dentine hypersensitivity is intimately related to the anatomical and physiological composition of teeth. Alterations to the integrity of the enamel and dentine through processes of trauma, decay and toothwear can increase dentine permeability.

An evaluation of resonant frequency analysis to measure fixed bridge stability.

Objectives/aims: To determine whether a clinically available resonance frequency analysis (RFA) device (Osstell Mentor), designed to assess implant integration, could identify a single uncemented retainer on fixed-fixed bridges, .

Materials And Methods: All-metal fixed-fixed bridges were cemented to acrylic tooth analogue abutments with simulated periodontal ligaments. Dental stone bases provided 100 or 50% 'bone support' groups ( = 50 in each).

Root fracture and its management.

Unlabelled: Root fractures are uncommon following dental trauma but are mostly diagnosed shortly after the injury, although occasionally at routine dental appointments. This paper presents the management of the different types of root fractures and the types of healing response suggesting the appropriate follow-up of these injuries.

Clinical Relevance: A thorough clinical examination supplemented with radiographs, vitality tests, appropriate treatment planning and subsequent follow-up of root fractured teeth can improve the prognosis for these teeth and also minimize the need for subsequent extractions.

Improving the quality of clinical teaching in a restorative clinic using student feedback.

Introduction: A large proportion of the undergraduate curriculum is spent within Restorative Dentistry at the University of Liverpool. As well as supportive "phantom head" courses the undergraduates receive significant amounts of teaching within the clinics themselves. In 2004, to help inform the clinical tutors as to their areas of strengths and weaknesses, undergraduates were invited to complete an anonymous questionnaire on the quality of teaching they received from their clinical supervisors.

Occlusal changes following posterior tooth loss in adults. Part 2. Clinical parameters associated with movement of teeth adjacent to the site of posterior tooth loss.

Purpose: Much anecdotal evidence is available on tooth positional changes following loss of an adjacent tooth, but only a few studies are available. In Part 1 of this series, supraeruption was assessed and Generalized Linear Models were made to determine the clinical parameters associated with the supraeruptive process. The models demonstrated that clinical parameters were not only associated with the extent of supraeruption, but also with the type of eruption present.

Occlusal changes following posterior tooth loss in adults. Part 1: a study of clinical parameters associated with the extent and type of supraeruption in unopposed posterior teeth.

Purpose: One of the barriers to restoring an edentulous space may be the supraeruption of an unopposed tooth to occupy some or all of the space needed for prosthetic replacement. The aim of this study was to determine the extent and type of supraeruption associated with unopposed posterior teeth and to investigate the relationship between these and oral and patient factors.

Materials And Methods: Diagnostic casts of 100 patients with an unopposed posterior tooth and of 100 control patients were scanned and analyzed to record the extent of supraeruption, together with other clinical parameters.

The use of confocal microscopy to assess surface roughness of two milled CAD-CAM ceramics following two polishing techniques.

Objective: To assess the effects of two polishing techniques on the surface roughness of a commercial and experimental dental ceramic for use in a chairside CAD-CAM system.

Methods: A standard onlay was reproduced fifteen times in each of the two materials. Each stub was retained and examined using confocal microscopy in reflection mode.

An investigation of the constituent elements and modes of fracture of in vivo fractured metallic posts.

Objectives: The objective of this investigation was to determine the materials used in metallic post and core construction and investigate and the modes of failure that occurred resulting in post fracture.

Methods: Eighty-five fractured metal posts were clinically retrieved over a 5-year period. The tooth with the fractured post, and relevant clinical details were recorded.

Thermal conductivity through various restorative lining materials.

Objectives: Traditional teaching has advocated the placement of insulating materials under restorations to protect against 'thermal shock'. Often this involves placement of a thick zinc-oxide eugenol cement lining. The purpose of this in vitro study was to assess the heat transfer through four lining materials and dentine and to relate these findings to the temperature exposures that may be experienced in the oral environment.

An in vitro study of dentin exposure during resin-bonded fixed partial denture preparation.

Objectives: The aim of this in vitro study was to investigate whether dentin is exposed during tooth preparation for resin-bonded fixed partial dentures and, if so, to quantify the amount of dentin exposure.

Method And Materials: Twenty extracted premolars were prepared in the following manner: The palatolingual and proximal axial surfaces were reduced by 0.50 mm.

Tooth surface loss: does recreational drug use contribute?

Objective: This pilot study was designed to measure tooth wear in a sample of 13 subjects who regularly use amphetamine-like drugs (Ecstasy, amphetamines) and compare the observed wear with a matched sample of nondrug users.

Design: The two groups, both composed of 13 undergraduate students, were matched for age and sex. Other factors influencing tooth wear were controlled by matching the groups on their responses to a questionnaire asking about recognised common causes of tooth wear.

An in vitro study of coronal microleakage around bonded amalgam coronal-radicular cores in endodontically treated molar teeth.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the coronal microleakage of conventional and bonded amalgam coronal-radicular (Nayyar) restorations on endodontically treated molar teeth, because coronal seal is a major factor in the long-term success of endodontic treatment.

Method And Materials: Forty extracted human molar teeth were root-filled and prepared for coronal-radicular amalgam restorations. Four groups of 10 teeth were restored with Tytin amalgam and Vitrebond, Superbond D Liner II, Panavia 21, or no adhesive agent.