Introduction to disclosing agents Disclosing agents are the solutions or wafers capable of staining bacterial deposits on the surface of teeth, tongue or gingiva. These are very effective tools in patient education and motivation, helping them to perform adequate plaque control. The disclosing agents in solution form are applied on the teeth either in concentrated…
Read MoreIntroduction to adverse pregnancy outcomes In 1931 Galloway first suggested that maternal periodontal infection may play a role in complications of pregnancy, including ”miscarriage, pyelitis, mastitis, phlebitis, anemia and toxemias of pregnancy” 1. Since then, evidence has accumulated linking the maternal periodontal disease with adverse pregnancy outcomes. In the last decade, the adverse effects of…
Read MoreIntroduction to stress The word ‘stress’ was first used in life science by Hans Selye in 1936. It is derived from the Latin word “stringere” which means “tight,” or “strained”. In the last few decades, research has demonstrated a correlation between stress and periodontal diseases. Our current knowledge of the etiopathogenesis of periodontal diseases indicates…
Read MoreIntroduction to evidence-based practice Evidence-based practice is defined as the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients 1. Evidence-based practice involves integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research 2. Specifically speaking about Periodontology, every year, thousands of…
Read MoreIntroduction to probiotic therapy The oral cavity is a natural habitat for more than 700 bacterial species. Most of these bacterial species are commensals, that is, they are associated with health. Remaining bacterial species are pathogenic and are responsible for causing various oral health problems including periodontal diseases. These bacterial species are not randomly distributed…
Read MoreIntroduction to vaccination Vaccination is a process that induces specific immune resistance to a bacterial or viral infection. In vaccination, dead or attenuated living infectious material is introduced into the body with the object of increasing resistance or eliminating the disease. The first and foremost step in making a vaccine is the identification of the…
Read MoreIntroduction to Gene Therapy in Periodontics A gene is the basic physical and functional unit of heredity. Genes are made up of DNA consisting of two types of base pairs, that is, AT and GC which can be turned into instruction. Gene therapy can be defined as the genetic modification of cells for therapeutic purposes…
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