In vitro toxicity evaluation of silver soldering, electrical resistance, and laser welding of orthodontic wires.

The long-term effects of orthodontic appliances in the oral environment and the subsequent leaching of metals are relatively unknown. A method for determining the effects of various types of soldering and welding, both of which in turn could lead to leaching of metal ions, on the growth of osteoblasts, fibroblasts, and oral keratinocytes in vitro, is proposed. The effects of cell behaviour of metal wires on osteoblast differentiation, expressed by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity; on fibroblast proliferation, assayed by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulphophenil)-2H-tetrazolium-phenazine ethosulphate method; and on keratinocyte viability and migration on the wires, observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), were tested.

[Diagnostic evaluation of abnormally erupted maxillary canines].

Impaction of the maxillary canine is not a rare affection. A correct treatment can be appointed only after a serious evaluation of the case. In this work, the Authors describe clinical and radiographic methods which give the possibility to make a correct diagnostic evaluation of the maxillary canine impaction.

[Skeletal changes induced by radiotherapy. A study of subjects with retinoblastoma. II].

The authors examine the dental and skeletal alterations consequent to the use of radiotherapy as the elective method of treating retinoblastoma, an endobulbar neuroectodermal tumour typical of early infancy. The authors revise the basic concepts of radiobiology and the modifications induced by radiation in developing tissues with reference to both alterations at a microscopic (histological) level and those at a macroscopic level, namely of a morphological and structural nature. In the first part of the study the authors examine the damage to dental structures relating to both developing tissues and damage to mature tissue.

[Dental changes induced by radiotherapy: a study of subjects with retinoblastoma. I].

The authors examine the dental and skeletal alterations consequent to the use of radiotherapy as the elective method of treating retinoblastoma, an endobulbar neuroectodermal tumour typical of early infancy. The authors revise the basic concepts of radiobiology and the modifications induced by radiation in developing tissues with reference to both alterations at a microscopic (histological) level and those at a macroscopic level, namely of a morphological and structural nature. In the first part of the study the authors examine the damage to dental structures relating to both developing tissues and damage to mature tissue.

[Diagnostic evaluation of the soft tissue profile].

The Authors report a cephalometric analysis of soft tissues profile to help the orthodontist to do a correct treatment plane referred to the three thirds of the face and not limited to the lower one only. This analysis is related to adult patients, and because the well known considerations about development of the soft tissues, it should be a predictable analysis of soft tissues profile at the end of growth.