Illness Experiences in Women with Oral Dryness as a Result of Sjögren's Syndrome: The Patient Point of View.

Background: Sjögren's syndrome and the associated dryness can have multiple consequences. The aim of the present qualitative study was to give an in-depth account of the life experiences of women with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) and health-related behaviours, and to summarize these experiences in an integrated model.

Methods: Twelve women diagnosed with pSS who regularly attended the Hospital of the University of Chile participated in detailed interviews.

Oral health practices and beliefs among caregivers of the dependent elderly.

Background: Caregivers deal with oral health care of the dependent elderly; however, this has a low priority among them, and their education in daily oral care is deficient. Therefore, studying the oral care practices as well as their oral health beliefs is important as these affect the quality of the oral care they perform.

Objective: To compare formal and informal caregivers' oral care practices and oral health beliefs when taking care of severely dependent elderly.

[Spanish translation and validation of the nursing dental coping beliefs scale].

Background: Caregivers of disable and dependent people, institutionalized elderly and hospitalized, must provided oral health care for the patients under their care, for that reason, it is necessary to have a valid instrument in Spanish to measure oral health beliefs among caregivers. The aim of the study was to translate to Spanish the Nursing Dental Coping Beliefs Scale (Nursing DCBS) and validate this questionnaire to be used on Hispanic caregivers.

Methods: The nursing DCBS was translated to Spanish and revised for linguistic adaptation.

Evaluation of keratinization and AgNORs count in exfoliative cytology of normal oral mucosa from smokers and non-smokers.

Objective: In smokers with clinically normal buccal mucosa,cytological changes such as increased keratinization, and higher nucleolar activity have been observed. In these studies the cells for cytological smears were obtained with a wooden spatula. Our objectives were to evaluate the depth of cytological smears of oral mucosa obtained with both a brush (endobrush) and a wooden spatula, and to compare the degree of keratinization and the nucleolar activity in smokers and non-smokers.