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OBJECTIVE: Dental hygienists (DHs) are professionals responsible for oral health. They deal with professional oral hygiene, counselling, and screening patients for oral health, as well as preventing and treating oral diseases. However, DH responsibilities and duties may vary worldwide, characterising changeable occupational exposure scenarios and making it difficult to achieve a suitable evaluation of workplace risks, particularly regarding chemical exposure. Therefore, the aim of the present work was to provide a comprehensive overview on the current knowledge on DH chemical risks. MATERIALS AND METHODS: According to the PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review of PubMed, Scopus, and Isi Web of Knowledge databases was performed to retrieve all articles assessing DH occupational chemical exposures. RESULTS: Fragmented data are currently available on DH chemical risk, due to the limited number of studies on the topic and few DHs enrolled, as well as their frequent assimilation to other oral healthcare professionals. The majority of the retrieved investigations focused on possible hypersensitivity reactions caused by natural rubber latex exposure, but not on potential risks derived from other currently employed substances or innovative wide-spreading compounds. CONCLUSIONS: Future research should be focused on assessing DH chemical risks according to a more comprehensive and toxicologically standardised approach to achieve an appropriate awareness among the DH workforce concerning the possibility for hazardous exposure and adverse health effects. Overall, this may lead to the adoption/implementation of adequate preventive measures to protect the health and safety of these oral healthcare professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: In recent years metagenomic analysis has become more accessible for the characterization of biological specimens. There has been an important increase of studies using this technique for subgingival human samples. To date, there are no updated systematic reviews on the relationship between oral microbiota and periodontal disease. The aim of the present systematic review was to update data about studies concerning the influences of changes in oral microbiota composition on the periodontal status in human subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An electronic search was conducted in four databases (MEDLINE, Scopus, CENTRAL and Web of Science) for articles published in English from January 2014 to April 2018. In vitro or animal studies, case reports, case series, retrospective studies, review articles, abstracts and discussions were excluded. Also, studies that evaluated less than 5 microbial species, only viruses or already known periodontal pathogens were excluded. Two independent researches selected the studies and extracted the data. The quality of evidence was assessed as high, moderate or low for each microorganism. RESULTS: Eight studies and three additional publications recovered from the bibliography search of the selected articles were included in the review. The Bacteria domain was the main detected among the others and it included 53 species. The review confirmed the presence of recognized periodontal pathogens such as the members of the red complex but also identified, with high weight of evidence, the presence of new pathogens. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this systematic review support high evidence for the association of 3 new species/genera with the etiology of periodontitis. Future investigations on the actual role of these new pathogens in the onset and progression of the disease are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationship between diabetes mellitus (DM) and periodontal disease has been the subject of many studies that underline that diabetic patients are two/three times more susceptible to have an increased risk of periodontal disease, especially when metabolic control is inadequate. In this review the Autors analyze, in diabetic patient, biochemical, histological and microbiological aspects of periodontal disease. Recent studies reported the results obtained in not diabetic patients, both periodontopatic and not: in periodontopatic subjects, the value of glycated hemoglobin was higher. As regards type 2 DM has a positive relationship between periodontal inflammation and glycemia, with good probabilities of disease development. Some Authors showed how the hygiene and the professional/domiciliary control could support a reduction of the glycate hemoglobin and, therefore, of the periodontal disease. The glucose accumulation in the crevicular fluid, noticed in pockets with a depth >4 mm, causes an increase of spirochetes and bacteria. Some research reported that scarcely controlled patients show high levels of interleukin-1beta (IL-1β). This alteration together with the prolonged expression of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) could represent a mechanism used by bacteria to cause a major damage during the inflammation process, sometimes favoured by immunological defects, due to the mobilization of lymphocytes subpopulations. By measuring the values of TNF-α, fibrinogen, high sensitive Capsule Reactive Protein (hs-CRP), IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, at the beginning of non-surgical periodontal therapy and it has been after 3 months of treatment, noticed a relevant reduction only of TNF-α and fibrinogen. Concerning vascular alteration, vascular endothelium growing factor (VEGF) could play a major role in the tissues ischemia. The VEGF should determine the tissue ischemia, the angiogenesis and the alteration of glucose haematic level, in patients affected by microvasculopathies due to diabetes and to periodontal diseases. Particularly, the angiogenesis should favor the chronic inflammation, caused by increasing concentration of cytokines and other pro-inflammatory factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)all-trans-retinamide (4-HPR) has shown cancer chemoprevention activity in many experimental and clinical situations. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the in vivo efficacy of 4-HPR in preventing 7,12-dimethylbenz(α)antracene (DMBA)-induced oral carcinogenesis and to study histomorphometric changes. 76 Syrian hamsters were separated into four groups: group 1, untreated controls (16 animals); group 2, 4-HPR controls (16 animals); group 3, DMBA-treated animals (28); group 4, animals treated with DMBA and 4-HPR (16). Hamsters were painted with a 0.5% solution of DMBA three times a week in their left buccal pouch. A diet of 2mmol of 4-HPR/kg was administered. At week 9, 50% of the animals were killed; the remainder were killed at week 12. Pathology and histomorphometric tests were performed on epithelium, dysplasia and carcinomas. At week 9, 5 carcinomas were found in group 3, and 13 in group 4. Cancers in group 4 were more numerous, endophytic and infiltrating than those in group 3 animals. At week 12, 16 carcinomas were detected in group 3 animals, but group 4 developed more carcinomas per animal than group 3. Using these experimental concentrations, 4-HPR cannot express its best chemopreventive effect. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]