Restorative dentistry productivity of senior students engaged in comprehensive care.

In dental education, various clinical delivery models are used to educate dental students. The quantitative and qualitative measures used to assess the outcomes of these models are varied. Georgia Health Sciences University College of Dental Medicine has adopted a version of a general dentistry comprehensive care dental education hybrid model.

Use of tray-applied 10 percent carbamide peroxide gels for improving oral health in patients with special-care needs.

Background: Plaque accumulation and resulting caries or periodontal disease is a frequent problem in patients with special-care needs. Tray-applied 10 percent carbamide peroxide (CP) is a tooth-bleaching agent that has positive effects on plaque, gingival health and caries.

Methods: The authors review the antibacterial properties of CP and the effects of CP on saliva, plaque, caries and gingival health.

Dental erosion and acid reflux disease: an overview.

Dental erosion can be difficult to detect, especially in the early stages when lesions are subtle and can be easily overlooked. Patients often are not aware of erosion until the dentition has sustained severe damage that requires extensive and expensive dental rehabilitation. The pH of stomach acid is much lower than the critical pH of enamel dissolution; therefore, reflux of stomach contents into the oral cavity over an extended period of time can cause severe loss of tooth structure.

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.