Wolfgang Rosenthal †

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Marathon of eponyms: 13 Melkersson–Rosenthal syndrome

Oral Diseases (2010) 16 , 707–708 The use of eponyms has long been contentious, but many remain in common use, as discussed elsewhere (Editorial: Oral Diseases. 2009: 15; 185). The use of eponyms in diseases of the head and neck is found mainly in specialties dealing with medically compromised individuals (paediatric dentistry, special care dentistry, oral and maxillofacial medicine, oral and maxillofacial pathology, oral and maxillofacial radiology and oral and maxillofacial surgery) and particularly by hospital‐centred practitioners. This series has selected some of the more recognised relevant eponymous conditions and presents them alphabetically. The information is based largely on data available from MEDLINE and a number of internet websites as noted below: the authors would welcome any corrections. This document summarises data about Melkersson–Rosenthal syndrome.     

Sugar and the birth of dentistry

It took mankind some ten thousand years to get sugarcane from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. Once it reached Europe and the Europeans knew how to handle it, it took them only a hundred years to turn the production of sugar into the biggest industry of the world. Exactly in those hundred years the birth of modern medicine--and dentistry--is placed. This coincidence is too particular to be left unnoticed.     

Dedicated to Professor Dr. Emil Witt on the occasion of his 65th birthday

Laudatio

Dedicated to Professor Dr. Emil Witt on the occasion of his 65th birthday     

Periodontal diseases and the risk of preterm birth and low birth weight: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: This meta-analysis of periodontal disease in relation to the risk of preterm birth/low birth weight (PTB/ LBW) is based on two case-control studies and three prospective cohort studies that met pre-stated inclusion criteria. METHODS: Information on the designs of the studies, characteristics of the study population, exposure and outcome measures, control for confounders, and risk estimates were abstracted independently by two investigators using a standard protocol. RESULTS: Pregnant women with periodontal disease had an overall adjusted risk of preterm birth that was 4.28 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.62 to 6.99; P <0.005) times that risk for healthy subjects. The overall adjusted odds ratio of preterm low birth weight was 5.28 (95% CI, 2.21 to 12.62; P <0.005), while the overall adjusted odds ratio of a delivery of either PTB or LBW was 2.30 (95% CI, 1.21 to 4.38; P <0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that periodontal diseases in the pregnant mother significantly increase the risk of subsequent preterm birth or low birth weight. While it remains important to promote good oral hygiene during routine prenatal visits, there is no convincing evidence, on the basis of existing case control and prospective studies, that treatment of periodontal disease will reduce the risk of preterm birth. Consequently, large randomized, placebo-controlled, masked clinical trials are required.     

Baden-Powell on teeth: a centenary perspective of a pioneer of preventive dental health

In the era when dental care, particularly preventive dental health, did not enjoy a high public profile, Lieut-General (later Lord) Robert Baden-Powell (1857-1941) was an influential advocate for the care of the teeth. He was a pioneer in a targeted outreach to youth, specifically boys and young men, emphasising the importance of dental health as an essential part of total body health and fitness. In his book, Scouting for boys, first published on 1 May 1908, he described personal accounts of the consequences of the neglect of oral hygiene and presented advice on how to make an effective 'camp tooth-brush' in order that dental hygiene would not be compromised even under the exigencies of conditions away from home. Baden-Powell wrote explicitly that daily dental hygiene was the single most important 'one civilised thing [teenage youths] could do', irrespective of one's physical circumstances. Scouting for boys was for more than five decades the world's best seller in English, after the Bible. It has run to, and now surpasses, 60 million copies in 30 languages and has been published in 35 editions. It is believed that Baden-Powell's frank and direct exhortations to preserve the teeth, with simple and direct advice on food and what today would be called oral hygiene, have been read by 350 million people throughout the world. His advocacy reached out to boys and young men as it does today to youths of both sexes in that 'window of opportunity' when life-long habits of healthcare are being inculcated and when important components of secondary dentition are forming. This paper is a centenary perspective of Baden-Powell's pioneering advocacy of modern preventive dental health.