Journal of Dental Medicine

Statement of Problem: Cephalometric findings are of high importance in making decision about orthodontic treatment plans and orthognathic surgeries. Natural head position (NHP) is considered as a useful and exact radiographic technique.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to compare two techniques, namely Standard and NHP, in lateral cephalometry.
Materials and Methods: In this cross- sectional study, performed in Shiraz. 138 randomly selected students {70 males .and 68 females), age ranging from (13-15). were evaluated clinically and radiographically. None of them had a history of orthodontic treatment, head and face fracture or surgical operations. Lateral cephalograms were taken in both standard and natural head position techniques, for each student. For statistical analysis, l-lest for paired samples, was done.
Results: This study showed that in anterior-posterior dimension, among angles with significant differences in two techniques, those of standard one were more reliable, whereas in vertical dimension.statistical differences showed natural technique as more useful one.
Conclusion: Due to the fact that natural cephalometry requires more patient cooperation, more time and a higher complex technique, it is not suggested, except when different clinical and cepholomeiric findings are observed.

Background and Aim: Dental pulp calcification may have the same pathogenesis as vascular calcifications. Pulp stones are calcified mass, which are commonly observed in usual dental radiographs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between pulp stones and ischemic CVD.

Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study on 20-25-year-old patients who had at least 8 intact teeth and were referred to Afshar hospital for cardiovascular examinations. Relationship between vascular stenosis and dental pulp stone was explored.

Results: Sixty one patients who had undergone angiography were studied. They included 32 male (52.5%) and 29 female (47.5%). 38 patients had at least one stenotic vessel (from one to three vessels) and the others (37.7%) showed normal angiographic findings. 73.8% (31 cases) of the patients with dental pulp stones suffered from coronary narrowing where as only 36.8% (7 cases) of the patients without dental pulp stones showed coronary vessels narrowing. Pulp stones were mostly seen in first and second Molar teeth.

Conclusion: According to the results, we can state that oral and maxillofacial radiology is helpful in screening of cardiovascular diseases.

Background and Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of application of two types of primers over bracket bases on the shear bond strength (SBS) and mode of bond failure.
Materials and Methods: In this study, 75 human premolar teeth were divided into three equal groups. In group 1 (control), after surface preparation of enamel by conventional method (acid etching+primer) brackets were bonded with Transbond XT composite. In group 2 (TX), brackets were bonded to enamel same as the first group but Transbond XT primer were used on bracket bases before placement of composite. In group 3 (PL), Transbond plus primer was applied on bracket bases before placement of composite. After 24 h, the SBS test was performed by universal testing machine at crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min. Then, adhesive remnant index (ARI) scores and percentage of cohesive fracture were determined using stereomicroscopy. SBS data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Duncan tests. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used to analyze ARI and cohesive fracture results.
Results: There was significant difference in SBS values among the groups (P<0.001). The highest SBS was shown in TX group and the lowest was seen in PL group. There was no significant difference between control and TX groups in ARI scores (P=0.199). No significant difference was found in cohesive fracture values between the groups (P=0.093). Both the control and TX groups showed significant difference in ARI scores and cohesive fracture compared with the PL group in all of the comparisons (P<0.001).
Conclusion: Application of Transbond XT primer over bracket base affects the bond strength and failure mode. Transbond XT primer increased the bond strength but Transbond plus primer decreased it.