To systematically review the published literature with the purpose of knowing the oral health effects of oil pulling. A systematic review of the literature was conducted across PubMed, PubMed Central, Embase, Google Scholar, Scopus, Campbell systematic review, and Cochrane. All papers published from January 2010 to March 2020 that focused on oil pulling as a study intervention were included in this review. Randomized control trials comparing oil pulling using conventional cooking oil with any controls such as chlorhexidine (CHX), placebo or routine dental hygiene practice were included. Eighty fulltext articles were analyzed initially. Among these 80 articles, only 14 articles fulfilled the research question and were included for review. A maximum of 600 participants were present across the reviewed studies, with study duration ranged between 1 and 45 days. With a high risk of bias in multiple aspects and unclear reporting of others, the methodological quality of the included studies was questionable. Among 14 studies included studies in this systematic review, nine studies compared oil pulling with CHX in the control group in which statistically significant reduction of scores was found in six studies, two studies showed a nonsignificant reduction, and one study did not report about significant difference. The quality of evidence appears to be low to recommend oil pulling as a suitable adjunct to other conventional oral hygiene methods, as most of the included studies had high or unclear risk of bias.

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Social deprivation provides a useful means of generalizing the condition of those who cannot or do not enter into ordinary forms of family and other such social relationships. The aim of this review was to evaluate the association of social deprivation with oral health. Three electronic databases (Google Scholar, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Library) were systematically searched to identify relevant studies. All the papers in English language were included without keeping any restriction for the article publication date. Review papers and those papers those were not concerned with oral diseases/oral health were excluded. Among a total of 1880 papers, 14 effective studies fulfilled the selection criteria and there was no scope for performing a meta-analysis in this area due to heterogeneity in these studies. Socially deprived adults have more dental risk behaviors, greater prevalence of dental caries, periodontitis, traumatic dental injuries, higher rates of orofacial pain, and tooth loss along with reduced dental service utilization compared to more advantaged adults. Socially deprived adults tend to suffer from poor oral health compared to socially advantaged adults suggesting the role of social deprivation in oral health inequalities. The major limitation was that most of the studies are cross sectional in nature. The studies are done across the populations considering association between various oral health variables and social deprivation using different indices which makes comparison between these studies difficult, and the indices used measured deprivation in general overlooking the social aspects of deprivation. Thus, these studies confirm the association between oral health and social deprivation.

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Background: The scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research, bibliometric methods are used to evaluate the standard of journal. Objective: The objective of the study is to analyze the publication trends of articles in the Journal of Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry (JIAPHD) over a period of 7 years from 2014 to 2020 (till Vol 18, Issue 2) and describe quantitatively the number of articles published in each issue, type of articles, and place of the institution and to assess the quality of the journal and compare that with bibliometric analysis of JIAPHD from 2002 to 2013. Methodology: A retrospective observational study was conducted, and all issues of JIAPHD were electronically searched for the parameters: study design, area of interest of research, state/college where research was conducted, authorship pattern, source of articles published each year, changing study trends, and publication bias and compared with bibliometric analysis of JIAPHD from 2002 to 2013. Results: Total 411 articles were retrieved and compared to 676 articles of previous bibliometric analysis, of which 430 articles from 2002-2013 issues and 344 from 2014 to 2020 issues were descriptive studies,341 and 352 articles were questionnaire studies, 420 and 340 articles were from South zone respectively. Conclusion: Fields such as descriptive, analytical, experimental, laboratory research studies, letter to editor dominated the publications; participation from East zone was also visible; studies with non-significant results were also improved in the present analysis.

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Background: Dental caries is a disease of complex etiology, in which microorganisms play an important role. Salivary pH and Streptococcus mutans count influence the initiation and progression of dental caries. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the efficacy of the combined herbal and nonherbal rinse on salivary pH and salivary S. mutans count and comparing it with herbal and nonherbal mouthrinse in 6–12-year-old high caries-risk children. Methodology: Ninety high caries-risk children of age 6–12 years were selected and allocated randomly into three groups (herbal, nonherbal, combination mouthrinses = 30 each). Children were instructed to rinse their mouth twice daily with their assigned mouthrinses for 7 days. Salivary samples were collected at baseline, 1 h post rinsing, and at the end of 7^th day of mouthrinsing for determining the salivary pH and S. mutans count. ANOVA and post hoc tests were applied. Statistical significance was considered at P < 0.05. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in salivary pH between baseline, 1 h, and 7 days. There was a statistical significant difference in mean S. mutans count among herbal, nonherbal, and combination mouthrinse at baseline and 1 h. There was a statistically significant intragroup difference for mean salivary pH and S. mutans at baseline and follow-ups in all three groups. Conclusion: Combination mouthrinse was more effective in increasing salivary pH level and reducing S. mutans count followed by herbal and nonherbal mouthrinse at 1 h. Nonherbal mouthrinse was more effective in increasing salivary pH level as compared to combination and herbal mouthrinse after 7 days. There was no statistically significant reduction in S. mutans count among groups at 7 days.

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Context: Jargon is widely used in the health-care field, particularly in medical/dental records. Although standard medical abbreviations/jargon can be seen as professional, efficient shorthand, overzealous, and unrepressed jargon used by medical and dental professionals can obstruct effective communication and understanding between patients and peers. Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and practice of jargon among medical and dental students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey consisting of 14 questions was carried out among final-year students and interns of the dental and medical college in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. Both descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square test and Pearson correlation) were computed. Results: The majority of respondents used jargon while taking a case history. Nearly 86.2% of dental final year, 56.9% of dental interns, 73.8% and 74.6% of final medical years and interns used jargons when there was a lack of time (P = 0.002). 41.1% of BDS final year, 63.1% of BDS interns, 53.8% of medical final years, and 63.9% of medical interns were aware of standard abbreviations (P = 0.001). Nearly 78.5% of dental final year, 83.1% of dental interns, 63.1% and 66.2% of medical final years, and interns felt that the use of abbreviations should be permitted in case history taking (P = 0.027). Conclusion: The study showed the widespread use of jargon in case history taking among respondents. Although the majority of respondents were comfortable with jargon usage, there is a lack of knowledge regarding standard abbreviations. A structured guideline for the use of medical and dental abbreviations or jargon is needed to prevent miscommunication in the interpretation of medical records, which can lead to medicolegal issues.

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Background: Trust is essential for a successful dentist–patient relationship. A higher trust is associated with a greater care-seeking behavior and greater adherence to the treatment regimens. Despite the importance of trust relationship of patients toward their dentist, the phenomenon is rarely studied in developing countries. Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the extent of patient's trust on dentist and to assess the factors affecting the dentist–patient trust relationship. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried among 397 patients visiting the outpatient department of a dental hospital in Belagavi city, Karnataka. Men and women aged above 18 years who have visited dentist at least once during the past 5 years were included in the study. A 11-item Dental Trust Scale (DTS) measuring trust in the dental profession was used. Descriptive statistics including mean scores were described for DTS. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using Principal Axis Factoring was used to explore the dimensionality of the DTS and associations between DTS mean scores and categorical variables were tested using Chi-square test. Results: The DTS had reliable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.63) and EFA revealed a four-factor solution. Lower trust levels were associated with previously experienced pain, feeling like they were going to gag, fainting or embarrassment, and any personal problems with the dentist. Higher trust levels were associated with dentist last visited, people who visited dentist at least once a year and among higher SES. Conclusion: The majority of people appeared to exhibit trust in dentists generally.

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Background: Dental students practice on extracted human teeth (EHT) in their preclinical to learn professional and technical skills before performing dental procedures on patients. Aim: The aim of the present investigation was to assess the management of EHT among dental students in the east coastal region of India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on II, III, and IV Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) students from five dental colleges in India's east coastal region, which were chosen using the fishbowl technique. Data was collected using a pretested, validated self-administered questionnaire and analysed using the Chi-square test, Mann–Whitney test, Kruskal–Wallis test, and linear regression. Results: A total of 649 students participated from five dental colleges, among them, 43.6% (283) were II BDS, 29.6% (192) were III BDS, and 26.8% (174) were IV BDS. About 66% of the participants do not know that the EHT are a source of infection; 22% of them noted that there was an incidence of infection with the use of EHT; 81.5% do not know that guidelines have to be given by the regulatory body/institution to handle EHT. Only 2% of the people think it was necessary to disinfect/sterilize EHT before use, while 33% of the study population felt that there was a need to wear mouth masks and gloves while working on EHT. In the study group, only 43% know that formalin was used as a storage/disinfecting medium for EHT and 80% of them experienced hazards due to chemicals used for storage/disinfecting medium of EHT. Conclusion: The results of this investigation stipulated that awareness, attitude, and practices of undergraduate students in relation to the handling of EHT were poor. However, deficiencies were observed in relation to teaching the materials and methods suitable for the management of EHT which reveals the need to incorporate the guidelines in their curriculum.

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Introduction: Dentistry deals with teeth and related oral structures. Most of the procedure require anesthesia to make it painless. Objective: The objective of this study was (1) Recording the most frequently used local anesthetic techniques in our dental colleges and (2) satisfaction rate of dental students toward their curriculum of learning local anesthesia. Finally, we also wanted to formulate a research hypothesis, i.e., will artificial models be able to restitute conventional ways of learning local anesthesia in dental colleges. Materials and Methods: Prevalidated questions from published articles were picked and using Google Forms, an online survey platform was prepared, students who were the part of the study were asked to mark their response. Out of 90 students, 74 replied to the questionnaire. Response rate was 82.22%. This study was conducted between April and June 2019. Results: The survey results show that inferior alveolar nerve block and greater palatine were used very frequently (75.7% and 58.1%), respectively. Whereas, papillary (interdental) injection (PI) rarely (43.2%) or never (24.3%) and mental/incisive nerve block rarely (31.1%) or never (10.8%). Fifty-eight percent reported to learn local anesthesia on patient. Two-third (67.6%) of students was satisfied with their routine way of learning local anesthesia. Conclusion: Our study infers that, inferior alveolar nerve block is very frequently used nerve block. PI is rarely or never used block. Maxillary infiltration is marked as easy technique and can be performed without getting additional training. Two-third of students are satisfied with the present dental curriculum while one third wants a change.

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Background: Dental caries is a multifactorial disease, which is preventable by adopting healthy behaviors like toothbrushing. Tulsi extract mouthrinse has confirmed its antibacterial efficacy against Streptococcus mutans. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess and compare the antibacterial efficacy of 4% tulsi leaf extract, commercially available fluoridated (Colgate Total Care), and placebo dentifrices on salivary S. mutans counts among 14–15-year-old schoolchildren in Davangere city. Subjects and Methods: A triple-blinded randomized controlled trial consisted of 84 randomly selected participants aged 14–15 years. Baseline unstimulated 2-ml saliva was collected and the microorganisms were cultured using mitis salivarius selective media. The participants with 10⁵ colony-forming units were considered eligible. Block randomization and concealed randomization method was adopted to allocate the participants into three groups containing 28 each. After 7 days, postassessment of salivary S. mutans count was done. Statistical Analysis: Wilcoxon signed-rank test for within-group comparison and Kruskal–Wallis analysis of variance for intergroup comparison were used. Missing data analysis was performed. Results: The study showed a significant reduction in salivary S. mutans counts from baseline to posttest (mean rank 37.95–28.45) in tulsi toothpaste group. Intergroup comparison showed a statistically significant difference (P = 0.035). Post hoc analysis showed a statistically significant difference between tulsi and placebo toothpaste group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Four percent tulsi extract incorporated in the form of toothpastes have shown a maximum reduction in the salivary S. mutans count for a period of 7 days when compared to fluoridated toothpaste.

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Background: Regular dental visits are associated with better oral health outcomes in children. In India, data on the utilization of dental services among children are insufficient. Aim: The aim of this study was to find the prevalence of dental services use among 12- and 15-year-old school children and to assess if there is an association between utilization pattern and dental caries prevalence. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among ten randomly selected government senior secondary schools in Paonta Sahib Education Block. A total of 1120 children aged 12- and 15-year were included in the study. The children were examined for the presence of untreated dental caries as per the guidelines of the World Health Organization. The information on dental visiting pattern was obtained from the parents using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were used to analyze the data. Results: The prevalence of dental service use in this sample was 13%. Most of the visits were because of pain/tooth removal. “No dental problem” was cited as the main reason for never having visited the dentist. Overall dental caries prevalence was 52.5%. The prevalence of dental caries was higher in those who had visited the dentist before (P < 0.001). Conclusions: A very low dental service use was observed among 12- and 15-year old children in this study. The visits were mainly for pain alleviation rather than prevention of oral health. Lack of perceived need was the major barrier for accessing dental care.

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Introduction: Oral health may be defined as a standard of health of the oral and related tissues which enables an individual to eat, speak, and socialize without active disease, discomfort, or embarrassment and which contributes to general wellbeing. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the level of oral awareness among schoolchildren aged 10–15 years in Bilaspur district, Chhattisgarh. Materials and Methods: In an epidemiological cross-sectional survey, 10–15 years old schoolchildren in Bilaspur were examined to assess the dental awareness. A survey form was prepared with help of a self-administered structured questionnaire written in Hindi. The trained dental surgeon distributed questionnaire among the children. A completely answered questionnaire was collected. The observations were reviewed and analyzed. Results: Among the total number of participants (879), 98.1% of them use toothbrush to clean their teeth, 64.7% did not use dental floss, 91.5% of participants clean their tongue, 59.7% of children use mouthwash, and 85.7% rinse their mouth after every meal. Conclusion: The result of the present study suggests that the oral hygiene habits, oral health awareness, and knowledge level among schoolchildren are poor and need to be improved.

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