Active clinical trials for "Dental Plaque"

Background: - Dental plaque is a coating of bacteria on the teeth. It contributes to poor dental health and diseases such as gingivitis, cavities and periodontal disease. Researchers who study plaque know that many different types of oral bacteria stick to each other in test-tube experiments. However, it is not clear if these interactions occur in natural dental plaque. By studying how bacteria interact, researchers can better understand how bacteria come together and grow to form plaque. Objectives: - To look at how bacteria interact with one another to form dental plaque. Eligibility: - Healthy nonsmoking volunteers at least 18 years of age. Design: Participants will be screened with a medical history and dental exam. They will also have dental impressions taken for a stent (a device similar to Invisalign(SqrRoot) braces). Participants will wear the stent for up to 8 hours a day on selected study visit days. It will contain enamel chips made from sterilized human teeth. The mouth bacteria will stick to the chips and grow. Chips will be taken out of the stent twice during these study visit days. Participants will have other study visits to provide saliva and plaque samples. They will also have gum swabs to collect bacteria. Some participants may have a second set of study visits. At these visits, they will chew gum to increase their saliva production. Afterwards, they will wear the stent with the enamel chips for 4 hours. Samples from the stent will be taken once on these study visit days.

Objectives To compare oral health (dental caries, periodontal status, and erosive tooth wear (ETW)), diet and oral hygiene habits between obese and normal weight adolescents, and to explore possible risk associations. Materials and Methods In this case-control study, a convenient sample of 81 obese adolescents (age range 11-18) from a rehabilitation centre, and 81 age-sex-matched normal weight adolescents were selected. Groups were defined using the Body Mass Index and growth curves for Flemish. Oral health was measured using DMFT, gingival, plaque and BEWE index. A validated questionnaire was utilized to assess diet and oral hygiene habits.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the applicability of auto-fluorescence imaging system to detect and quantify caries and dental plaque. Participants were advised to rinse their mouth with distilled water to exclude any chance of fluorescence from food debris. A well trained physicist majored in optical spectroscopy captured auto-fluorescence images of buccal aspects of two maxillary central incisors and occlusal aspects of four first molars from each patient in a dark room. Then they chewed a disclosing agent to assess the Quigley Hein plaque index modified by Turesky of each tooth. Furthermore, participants were also required to brush their teeth for 3min, then International Caries Detection and Assessment System（ICDAS）codes of relevant teeth to evaluate degrees of caries were recorded by an experienced dentist using a mouth mirror and explorer. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient between colorimetric parameters of fluorescence image and the plaque index and ICDAS code were calculated to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of auto-fluorescence imaging system.

We are studying the possibility of using dental calculus as a reservoir for the genes of an infectious agent that has infected the patient in previous months; as it is done to highlight climate change in ice samples.