An unusual case of generalized severe gingival enlargement during pregnancy.

Increased hormone levels that are present during puberty and pregnancy are associated with localized or generalized gingival enlargement. This article reviews the gingival alterations that can occur during pregnancy and describes a case of generalized severe gingival enlargement associated with pregnancy and its management. A 36-year-old woman had severe bilateral gingival enlargement of short duration.

Comparison of two film holders for periapical radiography performed by dental students.

A clinical study was done at Howard University, College of Dentistry, to compare the difference in the incidence of radiographic technique faults between two similar intraoral film-holding, beam-aligning, devices in a series of 1,248 radiographs. The primary difference between a conventional Extension Cone Paralleling (XCP-I) film holder and a modified, all-metal, Extension Cone Paralleling (XCP-II) film holder is the incorporation of a collimated rectangular x-ray-beam-restricting plate. This latter film holder possessed an indicator rod attached to the bite block and a metal shield to reduce primary and back-scattered radiation behind the film.