Background: Mouth breathing can lead to introduce cold, dry unprepared air that insults the tissue of oral cavity, nasopharynx and lung, leading in turn to pathological changes in oronasal cavity, nasopharyngeal and other respiratory tissue, mouth breathing associated with nasal obstruction may lead to many health problems, in particular oral health problems such as inflammation of gingiva, oral dryness, change in oral environment that may decrease pH, salivary flow rate and increase bacteria and dental caries.Aims of the present study were to assess the oral health condition among mouth breather associated with nasal obstruction, including dental caries, oral cleanliness and gingival health condition as well as to evaluate the changes in salivary physical characteristics and salivary mutans streptococci counts, and their relation to oral variables in comparison to a control group. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients with mouth breathing associated with nasal obstruction (15 females and 15 males) were selected as a study group with an age range (18-22) years old, all subjects were examined by ENT specialist to confirm mouth breathing. A 30 gender and age matched healthy looking subjects without nasal obstruction were selected as control. The diagnosis and recording of dental caries was according to severity of dental caries lesion through the application of D1_4MFS(Manji et al., 1989). Plaque index of (Silness and Loe, 1964) was used for plaque assessment; gingival index of (Loe and Silness, 1963) was used for gingival health condition assessment. Stimulated salivary samples were collected according to (Tenovuo and Lagerlof, 1996) and the following variables were recorded: microbiological analysis included the salivary counts of mutans streptococci, salivary flow rate, salivary pH (potential of hydrogen) and then measurement of salivary viscosity by using Ostwald's viscometer. Results: Results of the present study showed that the mouth breathing group had statistically highly significant, higher plaque and gingival indices than nose breathing group (P<0.01) with a positive highly significant correlation between them in mouth breathing and nose breathing groups (r=0.56, r= 0.64, respectively).The salivary flow rate was lower among mouth breathing with highly significant difference than nose breathing (P<0.01), also salivary pH was lower among mouth breathing but with significant differencecompare to nose breathing (P<0.05); statistically a negative highly significant correlation was recorded among mouth breathing group between salivary flow rate with gingival index (r= -0.56). It has been found that salivary viscosity was not statistically significant difference between mouth breathing group and nose breathing group. The salivary viscosity was found to be inversely significantly correlated with salivary flow rate among mouth breathing group (r= -0.38). While it was positively not significantly correlated with plaque index, gingival index and counts of mutans streptococci among mouth breathing group. Data analysis of the present study showed that salivary mutans streptococci counts among mouth breathing group were higher than that among nose breathing group, difference was statistically highly significant (P<0.01). Conclusion: Mouth breathing associated with nasal obstruction may have an effect on oral health status, leading to an increase in periodontal disease and changes in dental caries.
Background: Chronic periodontitis (CP) is greatly prevalent condition of inflammatory behavior. Salivary biomarker total antioxidants capacity (T-AOC) status, may be related to both periodontal condition and oral hygiene. Aims of the study: To assess the level of salivary T-AOC of patients with chronic periodontitis in comparison to healthy control and to correlate between the level of this marker with the clinical periodontal parameters (plaque index (PLI), gingival index (GI), bleeding on probing (BOP), probing pocket depth (PPD), and clinical attachment level (CAL)). Materials and Methods: Ninety subjects of males and females with an age ranged between (35-55) years were participated in this study. Participants were divided into two grou
... Show MorePeriodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease resulted from aggravated immune response to a dysbiotic subgingival microbiota of a susceptible host. Consequences of periodontitis are not only limited to the devastating effect on the oral cavity but extends to affect general health of the individual and also exerts economic burdens on the health systems worldwide. Despite these serious outcomes of periodontitis; however, they are avoidable by early diagnosis with proper preventive measures or non-invasive interventions at earlier stages of the disease. Clinically, diagnosis of periodontitis could be overlooked due to certain limitations of the conventional diagnostic methods such as periodontal charting and radiographs. Utilization of re
... Show MoreBackground: This study was conducted among diabetic persons to assess the sweet and salty taste sensitivity with its effect on gingival health in relation to salivary serotonin levels. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional comparative study design was used. All patients with diabetes aged 12-14 years that attend the Paediatric hospital at Baghdad medical city with specific inclusion criteria were involved in the sample of the present study (patients group 50 patients) compared with non-diabetic persons matched in age and gender of the study sample (control group 70 patients) who were attending dental unit in the college of dentistry/university of Baghdad. A two-alternative forced choice question including each component presented at f
... Show MoreBackground: 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
... Show MoreBackground: Oral health and nutrition are in interdependent relationship that good nutritional health enhancing good oral health. Nutrition can affect the development and integrity of oral cavity and the progression of oral disease. The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of the gingival health condition in relation to the nutritional status, among 10 years old primary school children in urban and rural area in Al-Hillah city. Material and method: Eight hundred ninety one (891) students, aged10 years old, selected randomly from different primary schools, in urban and rural area in Al-Hillah city, were included in this study. Oral examination including of plaque index assessment, which was done according to the criteria
... Show MoreBackground: Although they are not life threatening, dental caries and periodontal disease are the most predominant and widely spread oral diseases throughout the world. Another most common dental problem seen in children is dental trauma. The aims of the study included the investigation of the prevalence and severity of dental caries, gingivitis and dental plaque in relation to gender, furthermore, the prevalence and severity of the traumatized anterior teeth were assessed. Materials and Methods: This oral health survey was conducted among primary school children aged 9 years old in Al-Diwaniyah city in Iraq. The total sample composed of 600 child (320 males and 280 females) selected randomly from different school in Al-Diwaniyah city. Dia
... Show MoreBackground: Small cardamom or green cardamom is the dried fruit of the tall perennial herbaceous plant, Elettaria cardamomum Maton belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. The major use of small cardamom on world wide is for domestic culinary purpose and in medicine. This study was conducted to test the effect of small cardamom extracts on Mutans streptococci and Candida Albicans in comparison to 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate and de-ionized water in vivo. Materials and Methods: Mutans streptococci and Candid Albicans were isolated, purified and diagnosed according to morphological characteristic and biochemical test. In this experiments, the effect of control agents and small cardamom extracts as a mouth rinses was tested on the saliva
... Show MoreBackground: Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS) is the most common painful oral mucosal disease, affecting approximately 20% of the population. RAS presents with a wide spectrum of severity ranging from a minor nuisance to complete debility. Many of factors thought to have been involved in its etiology; that might have at the same time a direct or indirect impact upon oxidant/antioxidant system and trigger free radicals production. The aim of this study was to determine the possible association of oxidant/total antioxidant status and recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS). Subjects, materials and methods: The study consisted of thirty patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis and thirty healthy controls from which saliva and blood samples we
... Show MoreBackground: Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity, it can affect a person's thoughts, behavior and sense of well-being. It can affect oral health and lead to an increased risk of dental caries. Dental caries is the most common oral infectious diseases that stresses the immune system and causes changes in cellular and molecular components of peripheral blood and C-Reactive Protein is one of these components, considered a key biomarker of inflammation. This study was conducted to assess the effect of depression status on dental caries among 17 years old secondary school female students in relation to salivary C-Reactive Protein. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was carried and the whole sample composed of
... Show MoreBackground:Periodontal diseases and dental caries are the most common oral diseases, but they can be adequately prevented by adopting a specific health behavior and plaque control.The study was carried out to determine and compare oral health status; it included both caries experience, gingival health and oral hygiene behavior betweenfirst and fifth yearsof Al-Mustansiriyahdental students. Materials and methods: Total sample of the study consisted of 50 students at first year (25 males, 25 females)and 60 students at fifth year (30 males, 30 females). Plaque andgingival indices,dental caries indices (DMFS and DMFT) wererecorded to evaluateoral health status for each student. Further questionnaires were given to evaluate different oral hyg
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