Journal of Dental Medicine

Statement of Problem: Color matching and accurate shade selection are the challenging problems common to restorative dentistry. In ceramometal restorations, the type of substructure alloy affects the final color of bonded porcelain. Nickel- chromium alloy is the most commonly used one that its Iranian product, namely Minalux, is similar to Verabond2.
Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess and compare various color dimensions resulting from Minalux and Verabond2 alloys.
Materials and Methods: Nine disks, approximately 16 mm in diameter and 0.5 mm thickness, were cast from each alloy. Then, porcelain Vita VMK68 A2 was baked onto the entire test disks, following the manufacturer's instruction. Color samples, at the same time and under the same conditions, was measured by Data color spectrophotometer in CIE Lab System and Munsel system under four light sources (A, C, D65 and TL81). Then MATLAB TOOL BOX Statistic 5.2 was used to determine mean and bilateral variance analysis.

Results: It was indicated that the F value on hue, value and chroma was less than of the table value stated with 99% coefficient confidence, confirming Ho theory. In other words, there were not any significant differences between ceramometal disks made of Minalux and Verabond2 in the three dimensions of color.
Conclusion: Having desirable physical, mechanical and biological properties, Verabond2 can be replaced by Minalux alloy.

Background and Aim: Compared to the information about educational responsibilities, there is not much information about the research skills and activities of the academics in dental schools. The aim of this study was to evaluate the research performance of the academic staff of the dental schools and their educational needs to promote their research skills.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done by mailing a questionnaire to all of the members of Iran dental faculties. The questionnaires contained personal information like age, sex, place of employment, educational records, and additional questions like the workshops previously attended, and interests to attend certain workshops. To evaluate the research performance of the academic staff, the number of accomplished researches, the articles published in known national and international journals, their skills in using internet, and the number of attended workshops about research methodology were included in the questionnaire. The completed questionnaires were gathered and evaluated by descriptive statistics.

Results: From the questionnaires gathered, 436 were eligible to be included in the study, which formed 58% of the academic staff of dental schools. The results showed that 7.4% of the staff had more than 10 researches conducted, 15% had 5-10, 49.9% had less than 5, and 27.7 had no researches done. Considering the articles published in known national journals, 28.2% had no papers, 51.8% had 1-5 papers, and 20% had more than 5 papers. Regarding the number of articles published in known international journals, 77.5% had no papers, and 20.2% had 1-3, and 2.3% and more than 3 papers. The "preliminary research methods" workshop had the highest percent of participation (71.6%), and "Stata acquaintance" workshop had the least (0.7%). The participants were mainly interested to participate in three workshops, "English scientific writing" (26.3%), "principles of scientific writing" (17.5%), and preparing research proposals" (16.2%), respectively.

Conclusion: We concluded that the research skills and performance of the academic staff, though improved in the recent years, is still unsatisfying. In order to promote it, it is recommended to organize workshops about "research methodology", "scientific writing" and "preparing of proposals"

Background and Aim: The aim of this clinical study was to determine the effectiveness of progressive loading procedures on preserving crestal bone height and improving peri-implant bone density around maxillary implants restored with single crowns by an accurate longitudinal radiographic assessment technique.

Materials and Methods: Eleven Micro-Thread Osseo Speed dental implants were placed in 11 subjects and permitted to heal for 6 weeks before surgical uncovering. Following an 8-week healing period, implants underwent a progressive loading protocol by increasing the height of the occlusal table in increments from adding acrylic resin to an acrylic crown. The progressively loaded crowns were placed in 2 mm infraocclusion for the first 2 months, light occlusion for the second 2 months, and full occlusion for the third 2 months. At forth 2 months, a metal ceramic crown replaced the acrylic crown. Digital radiographs of each implant were made at the time of restoration, then after 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 months of function. Digital image analysis was done to measure changes in crestal bone height and peri-implant bone density.

Results: The mean values of crestal bone loss at 12 months were 0.11 ± 0.19 mm, and when tested with Friedman across the time periods, the differences were not statistically significant (p> 0.05). The mean values of bone density in the crestal, middle, and apical area were tested with Repeated Measure ANOVA across the time periods, the differences were statistically significant (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Progressive loading doesn’t cause crestal bone loss. The peri-implant density measurements of the progressively loaded implants show continuous increase in crestal, middle and apical peri-implant bone density by time.