Reliability of palatal rugae patterns in individual identification.

Background: Dental identification plays a major role in mass disaster identification of human remains. Palatal rugae can be used as a substitute for a comparative method of identification.

Materials And Methods: The present cross-sectional study was done with 137 pre- and post-orthodontically treated casts of patients, which were divided into 50 cases each of extraction and nonextraction and 37 cases of palatal expansion involving both extraction and nonextraction.

Frequency and variability of five non metric dental crown traits in the permanent maxillary dentitions of a racially mixed population from Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Introduction: Evaluation of Tooth Crown non metric traits benefits to assess the biological distance between populations. It is well known that these traits are characterised by a high inter-population differentiation, low sexual dimorphism, and their recording is loaded by relatively small intra and inter observer error. The dental morphological traits are successfully used in the description and explanation of the microevolutionary and ethnogenetic processes.

Forensic odontology as a humanitarian tool.

Humanitarian forensic action is the application of skills of forensic science in a conflicts or disasters as a humanitarian action. Forensic odontologist promote forensic odontology and forensic science principles to caseworks with the purpose of preventing human right violation by human identification, age estimation and where ever dental evidence is involved. Forensic odontologist is involved in all phases of disaster victim identification.

Extracellular matrix in invasion and metastasis of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma is a common cancer in developing countries with highly invasive and metastasis credentials. The Lymphnode metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma is regarded as the factor that decides on disease survival of patients. Steps have been made towards research in the field of Oral squamous cell carcinoma for better understanding of the molecular events involved in invasion and metastasis.

Ameloblastic carcinoma: A rare case with diagnostic dilemma.

Ameloblastic Carcinoma is a rare malignant Odontogenic tumour with characteristic histopathology and clinical features which requires aggressive surgical treatment and surveillance and therefore differs from ameloblastoma. It is possible that ameloblastoma shows a variety of histologic and biologic behaviour ranging from benign to frank malignancy. Cases of ameloblastoma should thus be studied carefully, correlating their histologic pattern with biologic behaviour to direct subtle changes in histology that may predict the aggressiveness of the tumor.

The cusp of Carabelli: Frequency, distribution and type in the Bengaluru population.

Aims: Detailed description and study of teeth traits could provide valuable information regarding phylogeny of man and distinctions between races and subraces. But morphological variations of the human dentition have not been utilized to their full potential by anthropologists concerned with patterns of human biological variation in Indian population. The aim of the present study is to detect the frequency and degree of expression of Carabelli's trait in Bengaluru population, this helps to develop a probabilistic model to distinguish individuals from specific human populations, particularly for forensic purposes.

Role of mast cells in inflammatory and reactive pathologies of pulp, periapical area and periodontium.

Mast cells (MCs) have been discovered over 130 years ago; their function was almost exclusively linked to allergic affections. At the time being, it is well known that MCs possess a great variety of roles, in both physiologic and pathologic conditions. In the oral tissues, MCs release different pro-inflammatory cytokines and tumor necrosis factor-alpha that promote leukocyte infiltration in various inflammatory states of the oral cavity.

Mucormycosis in immunocompetent patient resulting in extensive maxillary sequestration.

Mucormycosis or zygomycosis, also called phycomycosis, is an uncommon, invasive, potentially lethal and an aggressive fungal infection of the order that usually affects patients with alteration of their immunological system. From its initial description (Paltauf, 1885), this entity still has a high mortality. Imaging techniques are not usually diagnostic, and cultures are not totally reliable.

Prevalence of nasal carriers of methicillin-resistant among dental students: An study.

Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of nasal carriage of coagulase positive methicillin-resistant (MRSA) among dental students.

Materials And Methods: Four hundred dental students, divided into two groups - undergraduates (200) and postgraduates (200), were screened using sterile cotton swabs for carriage of MRSA in anterior nares. The samples were inoculated on HiCrome MeReSa Agar Base-with cefoxitin supplement.

Epigenetics in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common type of oral neoplasm, accounting for over 90% of all oral malignancies and 38% of head and neck tumors. Worldwide, OSCC is the eighth most common human cancer, with more than 500,000 new cases being diagnosed every year with a fairly onerous prognosis, encouraging further research on factors that might modify disease outcome. Genetic and/or environmental risk factors associated with the development of oral cancer have been sufficiently understood (smoking, alcohol, betel, diet, living habits, etc.

Juxtaoral organ of Chievitz: An innocuous organ to be known.

The Juxtaoral Organ of Chievitz is a normal anatomical structure located within the soft tissue in the buccotemporal fascia on the medial surface of the ascending ramus. This enigmatic vestigial structure is considered to be of neuroepithelial origin with no known function. As a matter of fact, JOOC is one of the most treacherous pitfalls in surgical pathology with respect to lesions in the head and neck area.

Immunohistochemical study of CD44s expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma-its correlation with prognostic parameters.

Background And Objectives: The study aims at the observation of the immunohistochemical expression of CD44s in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) and to correlate its expression with prognostic parameters.

Materials And Methods: A total of 30 cases of OSCC, - 10 cases of each well differentiated (WD SCC), moderately differentiated (MD SCC) and poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas (PD SCC) were included in the study. The sections were subjected to immunohistochemical study using CD44s antigen marker.

Immobilization of polyphenol oxidase onto mesoporous activated carbons -- isotherm and kinetic studies.

Investigations were carried out in batch modes for studying the immobilization behavior of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) on two different mesoporous activated carbon matrices, MAC400 and MAC200. The PPO was immobilized onto MAC400 and MAC200 at various enzyme activities 5 x 10(4), 10 x 10(4), 20 x 10(4), 30 x 10(4)Ul(-1), at pH 5-8, and at temperature ranging from 10 to 40 degrees C. The intensity of immobilization of PPO increased with increase in temperature and initial activities, while it decreased with increase in pH.