Dental caries is a microbial disease of the teeth. Traditional way of managing this disease is by surgical intervention. But the current trend is to prevent the occurrence of the lesion. Caries vaccine is one of the methods of preventing and eradicating dental caries. Contemporary research is aimed at evolving a potent and effective caries vaccine. The present review gives an overview of the current developments, drawbacks and potential of this avenue of revolutionary caries management

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Though the research on caries vaccine started in 1930, much attention has been given to it in the recent three decades. From that time many new vaccines have been developed. The continued research in this field has also disclosed the potential drawbacks. This article explains the recent advances made in vaccine research to overcome the disadvantages of the existing vaccines and future trends that can be considered in the development of a potent vaccine. The article also gives a brief note on the Strain replacement therapy, which could be an immediate solution in the eradication of dental caries

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Hospital waste has become a very important source of spreading infection in the society. Hospitals are supposed to be seat of healing but it has become a seat of infection. This is true when it comes to nosocomial infections or Hospital acquired infections which is a frequent picture in those hospitals where the Health Care waste is not managed appropriately. Hospital waste is not only infectious but also hazardous. This issue was given prime importance and a legislation was passed "Bio Medical waste Management Rules" on July 27th. 1998. Which gives detailed description on how to manage Hospital waste? And as per the Bio Medical waste (management and handling) rules 2000, it shall be the duty of every occupier of an institution generating the waste to ensure that such waste is handled without any adverse affect to human health and environment. Since Dental Health Care set ups also generate waste that are both infectious and hazardous it is time that we also get ourselves oriented, sensitized and trained to manage Health Care waste scientifically.

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Objectives: To measure impact of oral health on quality of life. To assess the feasibility of using subjective indicators to measure the impact of oral health on comfort pain, appearance, performance and eating restrictions. Methods: The study was conducted in Bangalore. Based on pilot survey the sample size was calculated to 500. Modified cluster sampling drew sample for the study. The clusters were wards in Bangalore Mahanagara palike. Questionnaire was prepared based on 5 dimensions, followed by clinical examination. Interview method was used to collect information. Results: The instrument generated a total final score and scores for each dimension. Oral health status had impacts on people's daily life. Discrimination between groups with different levels of oral health status to subjective impact was analyzed and disparities in perceived influences of oral health on quality of life was apparent by age, sex, social class etc. Conclusion: Most of the participants did have impacts on quality of life by their oral health status and the measures used provide insight into how individuals perceive and act upon dental disease/conditions. The instrument used was feasible in measuring oral health impacts on quality of life but further refining of this is mandatory to suit our population and also to include measures to consider the positive impacts of oral health on life quality.

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The term blood group is applied to any well defined system of red blood cell antigens which are inherited characteristics. On the basis of blood groups human beings can be divided into several categories. The aim of this study was to assess the ABO and Rhesus type and frequency of blood groups among the students of the college of dental sciences, Davangere. The study was conducted at the college of dental sciences, Davangere among the students including the internees. A total of 484 students studying during year 2003 were individually interviewed and specific information of the blood groups to which they belong was obtained. Among the 484 students 32.4% belong to "O" blood group, 23.2% belong to "A" group, 33.2% belong to "B" group and 10.4% to "AB" blood group. The male to female ratio was almost equal i.e. 49.8% : 50.2%. In Rh type classification Rh +ve and Rh - ve were found to be 92.5% and 7.5% respectively. Majority of the students belong to "B" blood group and the least belong to "AB" blood group.

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This is a retrospective study done to analyse the biopsy reports of the department of oral pathology, college of dental sciences, Davangere during the period from the year 2000-2003. Aims and Objectives: Are to find out the commonest lesion occurring among the specimens received for histopathological examination and diagnosis and to assess the male : female ratio of the patients whose lesions were diagnosed histopathologically. Reports : It was reported that 30% of the total biopsies performed were of malignant type, 23.5% were benign lesions, 19.5% were cysts, 8-47% were premalignant lesions, 10.45% were reactive hyperplasias, 2.9% were inflammatory lesions and 5.18% were others. There was no marked difference between the male : female ratio (5.4 :4.6), conclusion : it is concluded that this is a highly alarming situation which requires proper method of health education and highlighting the harmful effects of abnormal habits.

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Cross infection control is an essential part of dentistry and barrier techniques form the core of foundation for infection control. Dentists use gloves as a barrier technique oblivious to the fact that gloves are not impermeable and help in cross infection control. Therefore the purpose of this study was to evaluate the permeability of gloves before and after usage in various dental procedures. The study was a double blind randomized trial consisting of five brands of gloves. Out of five brands three brands were sterile surgical in nature and the remaining two were examination type. The gloves were tested for permeability through air-water submersion test for macro defects and erythrosine dye leakage test. A total of five hundred gloves were assessed for permeability spread across five brands. The results showed that out of five hundred gloves, one hundred and three gloves proved to be defective. Forty gloves were found to be defective having macro defects through air-water submersion test and sixty three gloves had micro defects as assessed by erythrosine dye leakage test. The study concluded by evaluating the impermeability status of the five brands of gloves and showed that none of the brands were effective in barrier control providing total protection to the dentist. The five brands of gloves showed varying number of macro and micro defects.

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