Background: The immune system of the oral cavity suffers alterations due to fixed orthodontic treatment which act as potent stimulus for oral secretory immunity. The aims of this study are to estimate the effect of fixed orthodontic appliance on the level of salivary sIgA at different time intervals, and to verify the gender difference. Materials and method: The patient's history, clinical examination, and fixed orthodontic appliances were placed for 30 Iraqi orthodontic adult patients had class II division 1 and/ or class I malocclusion (15 males and 15 females) aged 18-25 years old. The unstimulated whole saliva was collected from each sample immediately before wearing fixed appliance (control group T0 as base line), and after 2 weeks (T1

To investigate the efficacy of polyether‐ether‐ketone (PEEK) wire as a fixed orthodontic retainer, by comparing its performance to other retainer wires and optimizing its adhesion to composite bonding materials.

Background: One common undesirable side effect of orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances is the development of incipient caries lesions around brackets, particularly in patients with poor oral hygiene. Different methods have been used to prevent demineralization; the recent effort to improve the resistance against the demineralization is by the application of lasers. Materials and method: Thirty human premolars extracted for orthodontic purposes were used to test the effect of two energy level of ER-YAG laser on enamel resistance to demineralization. The brackets were bonded on the teeth and all the labial surface excluding 2 mm area gingival to the brackets were painted with acid resistance varnish. Three groups were generated. The fi

Objective. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the force degradation of two types of elastomeric chains following different periods of immersion in zinc-containing mouthwashes. Materials and Methods. Four hundred and forty pieces of Elasto-Force and Super Elasto-Force elastomeric chains were divided into two control and eight experimental groups. The pieces were stretched to 25 mm on pins mounted on an acrylic block and stored in distilled water at 37°C. The experimental groups were immersed in four different types of mouthwash for one minute twice a day throughout the test period. Ten continuous thermocycles per day between cold and hot water baths (5–55°C) were carried out. Forces were measured at six-time intervals (in

Background: Ageing is a continuous accumulative ordinary physiological phenomena occurs upon all organs and body structures including saliva by its constituents which can influence the caries process, for that this study was conducted to determine the impact of ageing on selected chemical composition of saliva and their effects on dental caries experience characteristics at different age groups among apparently healthy men. Materials and method: A descriptive comparative study was conducted to compare between three study samples (young, middle and old age adults), thirty male in each study insert, aged (20 years, 40 years and 60 years) respectively. They were selected from private health center in Baghdad - Iraq, from the mid of November

In this study, a predicated formula is been proposed to find the shear strength of non-prismatic beams with or without openings. It depends on the contributions of concrete shear strength considering the beam depth variation and existing openings, shear steel reinforcements and defines the critical shear section, the effect of diagonal shear reinforcement, the effect of inclined tensile steel reinforcement, and the compression chord influence. The verification of the proposed formula has been conducted on the experimental test results of 26 non-prismatic beams with or without openings at the same loading conditions. The results reflect that the predicted formula finds the shear capacity of non-prismatic beams with openings, it is co

Photonic Crystal Fiber Interferometers (PCFIs) are widely used for sensing applications. This work presents the fabrication and the characterization of a relative humidity sensor based on a polymer-coated photonic crystal fiber that operates in a Mach- Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) transmission mode. The fabrication of the sensor involved splicing a short (1 cm) length of Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) between two single-mode fibers (SMF). It was then coated with a layer of agarose solution. Experimental results showed that a high humidity sensitivity of 29.37 pm/%RH was achieved within a measurement range of 27–95%RH. The sensor also showed good repeatability, small size, measurement accuracy and wide humidity range. The RH sensitivity o

In this study, plain concrete simply supported beams subjected to two points loading were analyzed for the flexure. The numerical model of the beam was constructed in the meso-scale representation of concrete as a two phasic material (aggregate, and mortar). The fracture process of the concrete beams under loading was investigated in the laboratory as well as by the numerical models. The Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) was employed for the treatment of the discontinuities that appeared during the fracture process in concrete. Finite element method with the feature standard/explicitlywas utilized for the numerical analysis. Aggregate particles were assumedof elliptic shape. Other properties such as grading and sizes of the aggr

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of vitamin D3 local injections on apical root resorption, alveolar bone integrity, and chair-side time following three and six months of canine retraction. Subjects and Methods: Seventeen adult patients (18-35 years old) of class I and II malocclusions were recruited, who required bilateral maxillary 1st premolars extraction before starting maxillary canines retraction. The experimental side received 25 pg dose of vitamin D3 injected locally into the distal periodontal sulcus of the canine (before force application) every three weeks, while the control side received retraction force only. Periapical radiographic evaluation was conducted after 3 and 6 months of the start of canines' retraction. Results: At

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of local application of bisphosphonate gel and recombinant human bone morphogenic protein 2 gel, on titanium dental implant stability and marginal bone level. Twenty-seven patients with upper and lower missing posterior tooth/teeth were included in the study with a total of 71 implants that were used for rehabilitation. The implants were randomly divided into 4 groups: 3 study groups and 1 control. Group1; local application of bisphosphonate gel, group 2; local application of recombinant human bone morphogenic protein 2 gel, group 3; local application of a mixed formula of both gels. The gel application was immediately preimplant insertion, group 4; implant insertion without application of a