The safety of nickel containing dental alloys.

Nickel is a constituent of many dental alloys. This paper reviews mainly papers published after 1985 with regards to biological reactions to nickel in dentistry. Nickel is an allergen, but there is no evidence that individual patients are at a significant risk of developing sensitivity solely due to contact with nickel-containing dental appliances and restorations.

Oral health in Israel--a review of surveys over several decades.

This review covers oral health surveys carried out in various communities in Israel over four decades. The general trends were for increasing caries prevalence from early surveys in the 1950s and 1960s up to the 1980s as evidenced by the rising DMFT. Treatment levels had increased since the 1980s, and there is a national decrease in caries experience.

Repair or replacement of amalgam restorations: decisions at a USA and a UK dental school.

Whereas replacement of failed restorations is the major treatment for adults in dental practice, repair is an important alternative with the potential to save tooth structure and increase the longevity of restorations at a lower cost. This in vitro study recorded the choices of treatment for the same set of teeth with defective Class II amalgam restorations by students and faculty at two dental schools (University of Manchester, UK and University of Florida, USA). Treatment options (monitor, refurbish, repair and replace) and reason(s) for the choice of treatment for 24 marked amalgam restorations were selected.

Effect of different application and polymerization techniques on the microleakage of proximal resin composite restorations in vitro.

This in vitro study investigated cervical microleakage of proximal resin composite restorations placed with three application and polymerization techniques. Uniform mesio-occlusal-distal (MOD) preparations featuring cervical margins above (mesial) and below (distal) the CEJ suitable for restoration with resin composite were copy milled into 33 recently extracted permanent molars. The teeth were divided randomly into three groups of 11 teeth and restored using a conventional incremental technique (Group A) and two novel curing devices (Groups B and C).

Bonded amalgam restorations: current research and clinical procedure.

This paper reviews the history of amalgam bonding; compares the results of recent clinical studies to laboratory results that report reduced microleakage, increased retention, inhibition of secondary caries, reinforcement of tooth structure, and reduced cuspal deflection; discusses conservative preparation guidelines; and presents a step-by-step clinical procedure.

Microleakage of amalgam cavity treatment systems: an in vitro evaluation.

Purpose: to evaluate the effectiveness of four cavity treatment systems for their ability to seal standardized Class V restorations of amalgam.

Materials And Methods: The Celay copy-milling machine was used to prepare twenty-five standardized Class V cavities on the buccal and palatal surfaces of maxillary premolar teeth extracted for orthodontic purposes. The cavosurface margins lay entirely within enamel.

The integrity of bonded amalgam restorations: a clinical evaluation after five years.

Background: Bonded amalgam restorations have been studied extensively in vitro, but few long term clinical studies exist. The authors examined the clinical performance of bonded amalgam restorations after five years of clinical service an compared it with that of nonbonded amalgam restorations.

Methods: The authors placed 75 bonded and 62 nonbonded amalgam restorations in patients needing restorations.

Cleaning dental instruments: measuring the effectiveness of an instrument washer/disinfector.

Purpose: To analyze the cleaning effectiveness of one type of instrument washer available for use in a dental office.

Materials And Methods: Dental instruments were heavily contaminated with blood and specific test bacteria. They were placed in cleaning baskets or within instrument cassettes, processed through the instrument washer, and analyzed for remaining blood and viable bacteria.

A two-year randomized, controlled clinical evaluation of bonded amalgam restorations.

Purpose: The clinical performance of adhesively bonded dental amalgam restorations was compared with that of traditionally placed non-bonded control amalgams in a randomized prospective study.

Materials And Methods: One-hundred thirteen Class II Dispersalloy amalgams were placed in permanent molars and premolars of 31 (21 males, 10 females) human subjects with their informed consent. By random assignment, 60 amalgam restorations were adhesively bonded using ED Primer and Panavia 21 TC (both Kuraray Co, Japan), and 53 traditional non-bonded restorations were placed.

Bonding of amalgam restorations: existing knowledge and future prospects.

A number of laboratory and clinical studies over the last 15 years have explored the potential advantages of bonding amalgam to tooth surfaces. Bond strengths have been reported to range from 2 to 20 MPa, with higher bond strengths reported for filled adhesives. Most studies agree that the use of bonding results in a considerable reduction of microleakage, when compared with copal varnish or no lining.

Teaching of posterior composite restorations in Japanese dental schools.

Aim: This study was conducted to assess the teaching programmes for Class I and II composite restorations in Japanese dental schools to obtain an overview of what is being taught, the relative teaching volume, the criteria for the provision of posterior composite restorations and the placement techniques taught.

Design: Questionnaire forms mailed to the operative dentistry teaching departments in all 29 Japanese dental schools.

Results: The response rate was 93 per cent, with replies from 27 of the 29 dental schools.

Influence of the isolation method on the 10-year clinical behaviour of posterior resin composite restorations.

The aims of this prospective randomised clinical study were to clinically evaluate a radiopaque, highly filled, hybrid, light-activated resin-based composite for posterior teeth (Occlusin, ICI Dental, Macclesfield, UK and GC Dental, Tokyo, Japan) and compare the performance of restorations placed using rubber dam or cotton roll isolation. One clinician placed 100 (42 Class I and 58 Class II) restorations of the material under investigation. The isolation mode for each restoration was determined randomly: 52 preparations were protected from contamination with cotton rolls and aspiration, and 48 preparations were isolated under rubber dam.

Effects of surface finish and fatigue testing on the fracture strength of CAD-CAM and pressed-ceramic crowns.

Statement Of Problem: All-ceramic molar crowns can be fabricated with CAD-CAM or laboratory methods with different materials, and a polished or oven-glazed surface.

Purpose: This in vitro study determined the fracture strength of various all-ceramic crowns, with and without prior cyclic loading.

Material And Methods: Standardized molar crowns were fabricated with a CAD-CAM machine (Cerec 2), software with machinable ceramic materials (Vita Mark II and ProCAD), and also conventional heat-pressed IPS Empress crowns fabricated at 2 dental laboratories.

Antimicrobial activities of dental impression materials.

Objective: The aim of this study was to measure the in vitro killing effects five commercial alginate impression materials had on five test microorganisms.

Methods: Two alginates with no added disinfectant, one supplemented with chlorhexidine and two others containing quaternary ammonium compounds were tested. Challenge microbes included two gram-positive cocci, two gram-negative bacilli and a yeast.

Dental materials: 1997 literature review.

This review of the published literature on dental materials for the year 1997 has been compiled by the Dental Materials Panel of UK. It continues a series of annual reviews started in 1973. Emphasis has been placed upon publications, which report upon the materials science or clinical performance of the materials.

Surface finish produced on resin composites by new polishing systems.

Objective: There is a demand for more efficient and finer polishing of resin composite restorations. This study compared the use of some new systems, with new or reduced numbers of abrasive instruments, to polish representative resin composites.

Method And Materials: Super-Snap Rainbow Technique Kit, Sof-Lex Pop-On System, and Enhance Finishing and Polishing System were used to prepare the surfaces of blocks of seven different hybrid or microfilled resin composites.

The development of resin-bonding for amalgam restorations.

Adhesive techniques are now used for many dental restorative materials, including amalgam. Several generations of dentine bonding agents have been developed, mainly for bonding composite resins. When bonding is used with amalgam restorations, the need for retention and resistance form is reduced, the seal is improved, and some procedures, such as amalgam sealants, which were not previously possible, can be considered.

Single-use, disposable, presterilized light-activation probe: the future?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare a single-use, disposable, presterilized light activation probe with an equivalent autoclavable probe. Light output, heat generation, and depth of cure were investigated.

Method And Materials: Ten disposable and two reusable probe tips were tested.

Impression materials and techniques for crown and bridgework: a survey of undergraduate teaching in the UK.

The aim of this study was to document the teaching of impression materials and techniques for crown and bridgework in the undergraduate curriculum in UK dental schools. A questionnaire sent to each school during the 1993/1994 academic year elicited fourteen replies (100% response). Addition-cured silicones were found to predominate; 71% of schools taught and used clinically a one-stage, full arch impression technique involving stock trays, and 57% of schools a full-arch custom tray technique.

Noise levels encountered in dental clinical and laboratory practice.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the noise levels made by different clinical hand-pieces, laboratory engines, and other significant equipment such as ultrasonic scalers, amalgamators, high-speed evacuation, and other items.

Materials And Methods: Sound levels were measured at four dental practices and three dental laboratories selected as representative of a variety of workplaces to reveal a range of noise. The noise levels were determined using a precision sound level meter, which was positioned at ear level and also at 2 meters distance from the operator.

Dental materials: 1996 literature review. Part 2.

This critical review of the published literature on dental materials for the year 1996 has been compiled by the Dental Materials Panel of the UK. It continues the series of annual reviews started in 1973 and published in the Journal of Dentistry. Emphasis has been placed upon publications which report upon the materials science or clinical performance of the materials.

Dental materials: 1996 literature review.

This critical review of the published literature on dental materials for the year 1996 has been compiled by the Dental Materials Panel of the UK. It continues the series of annual reviews started in 1973 and published in the Journal of Dentistry. Emphasis has been placed upon publications which report upon the materials science or clinical performance of the materials.

A split-shank prefabricated post system: a critical multidisciplinary review.

A multidisciplinary panel of senior academics and practitioners has evaluated a system of prefabricated threaded split-shank posts (Flexi-Post/Flexi-Flange) from published research and their own clinical use. These posts have been compared with requirements of an ideal post system in relation to clinical use, stress effects, stress distribution, retention, loosening and displacement, provision for cores, and biocompatibility. The purpose was to provide this critical review to allow interested clinicians to compare this novel design to other available post systems.

Dental materials: 1995 literature review.

This critical review of the published literature on dental materials for the year 1995 has been compiled by the Dental Materials Panel of the United Kingdom. It continues the series of annual reviews started in 1973 and published in the Journal of Dentistry. Emphasis has been placed upon publications which report upon the materials science or clinical performance of the materials.

Antimicrobial abilities of various dentine bonding agents and restorative materials.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to observe and measure the in vitro effect of various composite restorative materials and dentine bonding agents on the growth and adherence of oral bacterial believed to be responsible for recurrent caries in humans and on micro-organisms commonly used to evaluate the effectiveness of disinfecting agents.

Methods: Five sets of dentine bonding agents and composite resins and ten species of micro-organisms were used. Circular disc specimens of each composite set were placed onto inoculated plates.