Evidence Regarding the Treatment of Denture Stomatitis

Denture stomatitis is a common inflammatory condition affecting the mucosa underlying complete dentures. It is associated with denture microbial biofilm, poor denture hygiene, poor denture quality, and nocturnal denture use. Numerous treatment methodologies have been used to treat stomatitis; however, a gold standard treatment has not been identified. The aim of this systematic review is to report on the current knowledge available in studies representing a range of evidence on the treatment of denture stomatitis.     

Additive Technology: Update on Current Materials and Applications in Dentistry

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is becoming an alternative to subtractive manufacturing or milling in the area of computer‐aided manufacturing. Research on material for use in additive manufacturing is ongoing, and a wide variety of materials are being used or developed for use in dentistry. Some materials, however, such as cobalt chromium, still lack sufficient research to allow definite conclusions about the suitability of their use in clinical dental practice. Despite this, due to the wide variety of machines that use additive manufacturing, there is much more flexibility in the build material and geometry when building structures compared with subtractive manufacturing. Overall additive manufacturing produces little material waste and is energy efficient when compared to subtractive manufacturing, due to passivity and the additive layering nature of the build process. Such features make the technique suitable to be used with fabricating structures out of hard to handle materials such as cobalt chromium. The main limitations of this technology include the appearance of steps due to layering of material and difficulty in fabricating certain material generally used in dentistry for use in 3D printing such as ceramics. The current pace of technological development, however, promises exciting possibilities.     

Activation of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid by a 940 nm diode laser for enhanced removal of smear layer

Laser enhancement of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid with cetrimide (EDTAC) has previously been shown to increase removal of smear layer, for middle‐infrared erbium lasers. This study evaluated the efficiency of EDTAC activation using a near‐infrared‐pulsed 940 nm laser delivered by plain fibre tips into 15% EDTAC or 3% hydrogen peroxide. Root canals in 4 groups of 10 single roots were prepared using rotary files, with controls for the presence and absence of smear layer. After laser treatment (80 mJ pulse^?1, 50 Hz, 6 cycles of 10 s), roots were split and the apical, middle and coronal thirds of the canal were examined using scanning electron microscopy, with the area of dentine tubules determined by a validated quantitative image analysis method. Lasing EDTAC considerably improved smear layer removal, while lasing into peroxide gave minimal smear layer removal. The laser protocol used was more effective for smear layer removal than the ‘gold standard’ protocol using EDTAC with sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). In addition, lasers may also provide a benefit through photothermal disinfection. Further research is needed to optimise irrigant activation protocols using near‐infrared diode lasers of other wavelengths.     

Osteotome Maxillary Sinus Lift Using Bovine Bone and Calcium Sulfate: A Case Series

Purpose: The purpose of this longitudinal study was to evaluate the success of bovine bone and calcium sulfate (CaSO₄) as sinus augmentation material with osteotome maxillary sinus lift. Materials and Methods: Thirty‐one osteotome sinus lift procedures were performed for 18 healthy patients (7 males and 11 females). A mixture of bovine bone and CaSO₄ (ratio, 4:1) was used as sinus augmentation material with simultaneous implant placement. Implants were loaded 4 to 5 months postimplant surgery. Cases were followed for an average of 23.4 months postloading (range, 12–60 months). Results: The mean age of the study group was 49.7 ± 10.66 years. The residual height of the alveolar ridge ranged from 5.5 to 11 mm (mean, 8.16 ± 1.52 mm). Four to 5 months after implant placement, the x‐ray showed a 1.5 to 5 mm apical shift of the sinus floor (mean, 3.47 ± 0.97 mm), which was maintained to the end of the evaluation period. At 12 months postloading, crestal bone loss ranged from 0.5 to 1.5 mm (mean, 0.87 ± 0.26 mm), and pocket depth ranged from 2 to 4 mm (mean, 2.9 ± 0.67 mm). No significant change in crestal bone loss or pocket depth was noticed afterward. Conclusion: Bovine bone plus CaSO₄ can be used successfully as a sinus augmentation material with osteotome sinus elevation. The use of CaSO₄ significantly improved the handling properties of bovine bone and helped to stabilize the bone graft particles during healing.     

The role of replay and theta sequences in mediating hippocampal‐prefrontal interactions for memory and cognition

Sequential activity is seen in the hippocampus during multiple network patterns, prominently as replay activity during both awake and sleep sharp‐wave ripples (SWRs), and as theta sequences during active exploration. Although various mnemonic and cognitive functions have been ascribed to these hippocampal sequences, evidence for these proposed functions remains primarily phenomenological. Here, we briefly review current knowledge about replay events and theta sequences in spatial memory tasks. We reason that in order to gain a mechanistic and causal understanding of how these patterns influence memory and cognitive processing, it is important to consider how these sequences influence activity in other regions, and in particular, the prefrontal cortex, which is crucial for memory‐guided behavior. For spatial memory tasks, we posit that hippocampal‐prefrontal interactions mediated by replay and theta sequences play complementary and overlapping roles at different stages in learning, supporting memory encoding and retrieval, deliberative decision making, planning, and guiding future actions. This framework offers testable predictions for future physiology and closed‐loop feedback inactivation experiments for specifically targeting hippocampal sequences as well as coordinated prefrontal activity in different network states, with the potential to reveal their causal roles in memory‐guided behavior.