Enhancing Intraoral Fluoride Retention in Older Adults: A Randomized Crossover Study.

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that a calcium prerinse can increase intraoral fluoride retention from a fluoride rinse. To explore the potential of this approach to control root caries, we assessed intraoral fluoride bioavailability after a calcium prerinse in older adults with normal to low salivary flow rates.

Methods: In a 2-period crossover trial (NCT04239872), 20 participants (65-80 y old), with low or normal salivary flow rate, rinsed for 1 min with a 0.

American Dental Education Association Compendium Entrustable Professional Activities Workgroup report.

Purpose: Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are discrete clinical tasks that can be evaluated to help define readiness for independent practice in the health professions and are intended to increase trust in the dental graduate. EPAs provide a framework that bridges competencies to clinical practice. This report describes the work of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Compendium EPA Workgroup to develop a list of EPAs for dental education and supportive resources, including specifications and a glossary.

Oral health educators' reflections on teaching 2022 and beyond.

Introduction: The global pandemic prompted changes in health science education affecting both teaching and learning. This multi-institutional study assesses the near-term implications of these changes on faculty and faculty development. The project goals were to: (1) describe faculty experiences of teaching during the pandemic; (2) identify ways to sustain new pedagogical approaches, (3) describe the types of support faculty members need, and (4) offer recommendations to enhance oral health professions education.

Can peer feedback substitute for faculty feedback in predoctoral dental education?

Purpose/objectives: The ability to give and receive feedback is a key skill to develop during predoctoral dental education, and the use of peer feedback specifically offers distinct benefits including a different understanding of material due to peers' proximity of knowledge development and assisting with overburdened instructors. However, it is unclear if peer feedback offers similar quality to instructor feedback.

Methods: Dental students in two different graduation years provided quantitative and qualitative peer feedback on a case-based oral and maxillofacial pathology simulation.

Exploring HD-tDCS Effect on μ-opioid Receptor and Pain Sensitivity in Temporomandibular Disorder: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial Study.

This study explored the association between experimentally-induced pain sensitivity and µ-opioid receptor (μOR) availability in patients with temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and further investigated any changes in the pain and μOR availability following high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) with pilot randomized clinical trials. Seven patients with TMD completed either active (n = 3) or sham treatment (n = 4) for 10 daily sessions and underwent positron emission tomography (PET) scans with [C]carfentanil, a selective μOR agonist, a week before and after treatment. PET imaging consisted of an early resting and late phase with the sustained masseteric pain challenge by computer-controlled injection of 5% hypertonic saline.

Entrustable professional activities framework for assessment of patient handoffs in dentistry.

Purpose/objectives: The aim of this study is to report data on the lack of a proper patient handoff system in dentistry and dental education and to present a possible solution to integrate this into curriculum using the "entrustable professional activities" (EPAs) framework.

Methods: Delphi participants from seven US dental schools provided feedback on a preliminary definition of handoff, a mnemonic and an assessment rubric. 2019 American Dental Education Association Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education (ADEA CCI) participants further evaluated the handoff EPA using the EQual rubric for EPA quality and structure.

Entrustable professional activities framework for assessment in predoctoral dental education, developed using a modified Delphi process.

Purpose/objectives: The purpose of this study was to define and develop a set of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for dental education using a modified Delphi consensus approach. EPAs define the core tasks that a graduating dentist needs to perform independently in practice. The EPA framework facilitates assessment of competencies as they manifest in the tasks and independence needed to be ready for practice.

Sensory-Discriminative Three-Dimensional Body Pain Mobile App Measures Versus Traditional Pain Measurement With a Visual Analog Scale: Validation Study.

Background: To quantify pain severity in patients and the efficacy treatments, researchers and clinicians apply tools such as the traditional visual analog scale (VAS) that leads to inaccurate interpretation of the main sensory pain.

Objective: This study aimed to validate the pain measurements of a neuroscience-based 3D body pain mobile app called GeoPain.

Methods: Patients with temporomandibular disorder (TMD) were assessed using GeoPain measures in comparison to VAS and positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS), pain and mood scales, respectively.

µ-Opioid Activity in Chronic TMD Pain Is Associated with COMT Polymorphism.

Clinicians have the dilemma of prescribing opioid or nonopioid analgesics to chronic pain patients; however, the impact of pain on our endogenous µ-opioid system and how our genetic profile (specifically catechol-O-methyltransferase [] polymorphisms) impacts its activation are currently unknown. Twelve chronic temporomandibular disorder (TMD) patients and 12 healthy controls (HCs) were scanned using positron emission tomography (PET) with [C]carfentanil, a selective radioligand for µ-opioid receptors (µORs). The first 45 min of each PET measured the µOR nondisplaceable binding potential (BP) at resting state, and the last 45 min consisted of a 20-min masseteric pain challenge with an injection of 5% hypertonic saline.

Awareness and usage of evidence-based learning strategies among health professions students and faculty.

Learning is essential and life-long for faculty and students. Often students and teachers use ineffective learning strategies and are not aware of evidence-based strategies. A multicenter, international, cross-sectional, online survey-based assessment of awareness of evidence-based learning strategies among health professions students ( = 679) and faculty ( = 205).

The Oral Mouse Microbiome Promotes Tumorigenesis in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignancy of the head and neck worldwide. Dysbiosis of the microbiome has increasingly been linked to the development of different kinds of cancer. Applying 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and metatranscriptomic analyses, we characterized the longitudinal changes in the profiles and the function of the oral microbiome in a 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4-NQO)-induced model of OSCC in gnotobiotic mice.

The influence of palatal harvesting technique on the donor site vascular injury: A split-mouth comparative cadaver study.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of two harvesting approaches on the donor site vascular injury.

Methods: A split-mouth cadaver study was designed on 21 fresh donor heads. Every hemi-palate was assigned to receive the trap-door harvesting technique (TDT) or the epithelialized free gingival graft harvesting technique (FGGT).

Impact of chronic migraine attacks and their severity on the endogenous μ-opioid neurotransmission in the limbic system.

Objective: To evaluate, in vivo, the impact of ongoing chronic migraine (CM) attacks on the endogenous μ-opioid neurotransmission.

Background: CM is associated with cognitive-emotional dysfunction. CM is commonly associated with frequent acute medication use, including opioids.

The Status of Interdisciplinary Education in Advanced Education Programs at U.S. Dental Schools.

Interdisciplinary education (IDE) during dental residencies can help produce dentists who work more efficiently to provide continuous and reliable patient care. The aim of this study was to assess the extent and type of interdisciplinary education in dental residency programs at U.S.

Chronic ulcerative stomatitis: Case series of an under-recognized entity.

Chronic ulcerative stomatitis (CUS) is a mucocutaneous condition characterized by chronic relapsing and remitting oral ulcers and erosions. This condition remains under-recognized among dermatopathologists, possibly because of common misdiagnosis as oral erosive lichen planus (LP). We report five cases of CUS in order to raise awareness of this uncommon condition.

Loss of idealism or realistic optimism? A cross-sectional analysis of dental hygiene students' and registered dental hygienists' professional identity perceptions.

Objectives: The dental hygiene profession in the U.S. is in the process of establishing a direct access model of care and contributing to the creation of the profession of a dental therapist.

Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Metabolism Draws on Glutaminolysis, and Stemness Is Specifically Regulated by Glutaminolysis via Aldehyde Dehydrogenase.

Cancer cells use alternate energetic pathways; however, cancer stem cell (CSC) metabolic energetic pathways are unknown. The purpose of this study was to define the metabolic characteristics of head and neck cancer at different points of its pathogenesis with a focus on its CSC compartment. UPLC-MS/MS-profiling and GC-MS-validation studies of human head and neck cancer tissue, saliva, and plasma were used in conjunction with in vitro and in vivo models to carry out this investigation.

Preprogrammed Long-Term Systemic Pulsatile Delivery of Parathyroid Hormone to Strengthen Bone.

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is the only US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved anabolic agent for the treatment of osteoporosis. The anabolic action of PTH depends on the mode of PTH administration. Pulsatile administration promotes bone formation, however continuous PTH exposure results in bone resorption.

Feasibility of Non-invasive Brain Modulation for Management of Pain Related to Chemoradiotherapy in Patients with Advanced Head and Neck Cancer.

Patients with head and neck cancer often experience a significant decrease in their quality of life during chemoradiotherapy (CRT) due to treatment-related pain, which is frequently classified as severe. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a method of non-invasive brain stimulation that has been frequently used in experimental and clinical pain studies. In this pilot study, we investigated the clinical impact and central mechanisms of twenty primary motor cortex (M1) stimulation sessions with tDCS during 7 weeks of CRT for head and neck cancer.