Acid Resistance of Glass Ionomer Cement Restorative Materials.

In view of the need for aesthetics, restorations of teeth will typically be completed using tooth colored restorative materials. With the advent of biomimetic restorative materials, such as glass ionomer cements (GIC), much greater emphasis is now being placed on how well such materials can resist the challenge of acids that are present in foods and drinks, or gastric contents that are regurgitated. This laboratory study compared the dissolution and behavior of five GIC materials (GC Fuji VII, GC Fuji Bulk, GC Fuji IX Fast, Fuji IX Extra and GC Equia Forte Fil) when exposed to three acids (citric acid, phosphoric acid and lactic acid), versus ultrapure deionized water, which was used as a control.

Would You Be Surprised if This Patient Died in the Next 12 Months? Using the Surprise Question to Increase Palliative Care Consults From the Emergency Department.

Background: There is a growing movement to increase palliative care consults from the emergency department (ED) to reduce healthcare costs and improve quality of life. The surprise question is a screening tool that emergency medicine physicians may be able to use towards achieving this goal.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to increase awareness of hospice and palliative care medicine (HPM) among emergency medicine (EM) providers and to evaluate whether this heightened awareness increased palliative care consults among participating emergency medicine providers.

Clinical and financial implications of emergency department visits for synthetic marijuana.

Background: Many users believe that synthetic cannabinoids offer a safe and legal means of getting high. However, spikes in emergency department visits have been associated with use of synthetic cannabinoids. The purpose of the current study was to document emergency department visits from three large hospitals in one metropolitan area over a two month period.