Friday, April 6, 2012

splinting of teeth


Splinting:

It is defined as the joining of two or more teeth with a rigid unit by means of fixed or removable restorations.
Splint :
It is defined as an appliance used for immobilization of injured or diseased parts.

Requirements of an Ideal Splint:
It should allow direct application in the mouth without delay due to laboratory procedures.
It should not traumatize the tooth during application.
It should immobilize the injured tooth in a normal position.
It should provide adequate fixation throughout the entire period of immobilization.
It should neither damage the gingiva nor predispose to caries.
It should not interfere with occlusion.
It should not interfere with endodontic treatment.
It should fulfill aesthetic demands.
What are the different Types of Splints:
Fixed Splints
Removable Splints
For detailed information of Types of Splinting Click here - “Types of Dental Splints”
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What are the Objectives Of Splinting:
It provides rest .
For redirection of forces : Forces of occlusion are redirected in a more axial direction over all the teeth included in the splint .
For redistribution of forces: Redistribution ensures that forces do not exceed adaptive capacity .
To preserve arch integrity: Splinting restores proximal contacts reducing food impaction & consequent breakdown .
Restoration of functional stability: Restores a functional occlusion , stabilizes the mobile teeth & increases masticatory comfort .
Psychologic well being: Gives the patient comfort from mobile teeth thereby giving him the sense of well being .
Indications:
It is used in the treatment of dento-alveolar & mandibular fractures .
It stabilizes moderate to advanced tooth mobility that cannot be reduced by other means .
It stabilizes teeth after acute dental trauma .Ex: Subluxation .
Contraindications:
Insufficient number of firm or sufficiently firm teeth to stabilize mobile teeth .
Prior occlusal adjustment cannot be done on teeth with occlusal trauma or occlusal interference .
Patients who don’t maintain good oral hygiene.


bacteria


Archaebacteria and Eubacteria
Bacteria are of immense importance because of their rapid growth, reproduction, and mutation rates, as well as, their ability to exist under adverse conditions.
The oldest fossils known, nearly 3.5 billion years old, are fossils of bacteria-like organisms.
Bacteria can be autotrophs or hetertrophs.
Those that are classified as autotrophs are either photosynthetic, obtaining energy from  sunlight or chemosynthetic, breaking down inorganic substances for energy .
Bacteria classified as heterotrophs derive energy from breaking down complex organic compounds in the environment.  This includes saprobes, bacteria that feed on decaying material and organic wastes, as well as those that live as parasites, absorbing nutrients from living organisms.
Depending on the species, bacteria can be aerobic which means they require oxygen to live
                                                or
anaerobic which means oxygen is deadly to them.  

Archaebacteria 
Methanogens
                These Archebacteria are anaerobes. They make methane (natural gas) as a waste product. They are found in swamp sediments, sewage, and in buried landfills. In the future, they could be used to produce methane as a byproduct of sewage treatment or landfill operation.

Halophiles
                These are salt-loving Archaebacteria that grow in places like the Great Salt Lake of Utah or salt ponds on the edge of San Francisco Bay. Large numbers of certain halophiles can turn these waters a dark pink. Pink halophiles contain a pigment very similar to the rhodopsin in the human retina. They use this visual pigment for a type of photosynthesis that does not produce oxygen. Halophiles are aerobes, however, and perform aerobic respiration.

Thermophiles
                These are Archaebacteria from hot springs and other high temperature environments. Some can grow above the boiling temperature of water. They are anaerobes, performing anaerobic respiration.
Thermophiles are interesting because they contain genes for heat-stable enzymes that may be of great value in industry and medicine. An example is taq polymerase, the gene for which was isolated from a collection of Thermus aquaticus in a Yellowstone Park hot spring. Taq polymerase is used to make large numbers of copies of DNA sequences in a DNA sample. It is invaluable to medicine, biotechnology, and biological research. Annual sales of taq polymerase are roughly half a billion dollars.

Eubacteria
Cyanobacteria
                This is a group of bacteria that includes some that are single cells and some that are chains of cells. You may have seen them as "green slime" in your aquarium or in a pond.
Cyanobacteria can do "modern photosynthesis", which is the kind that makes oxygen from water. All plants do this kind of photosynthesis and inherited the ability from the cyanobacteria.
Bacteria are often maligned as the causes of human and animal disease.  However, certain bacteria, the actinomycetes, produce antibiotics such as streptomycin and nocardicin.
Other Bacteria live symbiotically in the guts of animals or elsewhere in their bodies.
For example, bacteria in your gut produce vitamin K which is essential to blood clot formation.
Still other Bacteria live on the roots of certain plants, converting nitrogen into a usable form.
Bacteria put the tang in yogurt and the sour in sourdough bread.
Saprobes help to break down dead organic matter.
Bacteria make up the base of the food web in many environments.
Bacteria are prokaryotic and unicellular.
Bacteria have cell walls.
Bacteria have circular DNA called plasmids
Bacteria can be anaerobes or aerobes.
 Bacteria are heterotrophs or autotrophs.
Bacteria are awesome!
Bacteria can reproduce sexually by conjugation or asexually by binary fission.
Endospore
Bacteria can survive unfavorable conditions by producing an endospore.
Shapes of Bacteria
Penicillin kills bacteria by making holes in their cell walls.  Unfortunately, many bacteria have developed resistance to this antibiotic.
The Gram stain, which divides most clinically significant bacteria into two main groups, is the first step in bacterial identification. 
Bacteria stained purple are Gram + - their cell walls have thick petidoglycan and  teichoic acid.
Bacteria stained pink are Gram – their cell walls have have thin peptidoglycan and  lipopolysaccharides with no teichoic acid.

The Gram stain has four steps:
1. crystal violet, the primary stain: followed by
2. iodine, which acts as a mordant by forming a crystal violet-iodine complex, then
3. alcohol, which decolorizes, followed by

4.
safranin, the counterstain.

Is this gram stain positive or negative? 
Identify the bacteria.
Gram staining tests the bacterial cell wall's ability to retain crystal violet dye during solvent treatment.
Safranin is added as a mordant to form the crystal violet/safranin complex in order to render the dye impossible to remove.
Ethyl-alcohol solvent acts as a decolorizer and dissolves the lipid layer from gram-negative cells. This enhances leaching of the primary stain from the cells into the surrounding solvent.
 Ethyl-alcohol will dehydrate the thicker gram-positive cell walls, closing the pores as the cell wall shrinks. 
For this reason, the diffusion of the crystal violet-safranin staining is inhibited, so the bacteria remain stained. 

tetanus


Tetanus 

 Brief history of disease
 5th century BC: Hippocrates first described the disease

 1884: Carle and Rattone discovered the etiology (cause/origin of disease)
p  Produced tetanus by injecting pus from a fatal human case
p  Nicolaier was able to do the same by injecting soil samples into animals

 1889: Kitasato isolated the organism from human victim, showed that it could produce disease when injected into animals. Reported that toxin could be neutralized by specific antibodies.

 1897: Nocard demonstrated the protective effect of passively transferred antitoxin à used in WWI
 1924: Descombey developed tetanus toxoid for active immunization à used in WWII

 Causative agent

Clostridium tetani
 
Morphology & Physiology
               Relatively large, Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria
Spore-forming, anaerobic.
Found in soil, especially heavily-manured soils, and in the intestinal tracts and feces of various animals.
Strictly fermentative mode of metabolism. 

 Virulence & Pathogenicity 

Not pathogenic to humans and animals by invasive infection but by the production of a potent protein toxin
tetanus toxin or tetanospasmin
The second exotoxin produced is tetanolysin—function not known.
                           Tetanus toxin
Produced when spores germinate and vegetative cells grow after gaining access to wounds. The organism multiplies locally and symptoms appear remote from the infection site.
One of the three most poisonous substances known on a weight basis, the other two being the toxins of botulism and diphtheria.
n  Tetanus toxin is produced in vitro in amounts up to 5 to 10% of the bacterial weight.
n  Estimated lethal human dose of Tetanospamin = 2.5 nanograms/kg body
  Because the toxin has a specific affinity for nervous tissue, it is referred to as a neurotoxin. The toxin has no known useful function to C. tetani. 
  Initially binds to peripheral nerve terminals
Transported within the axon and across synaptic junctions until it reaches the central nervous system. 
  Becomes rapidly fixed to gangliosides at the presynaptic inhibitory motor nerve endings, then taken up into the axon by endocytosis. 

Methods of transmission

C. tetani can live for years as spores in animal feces and soil. As soon as it enters the human body through a major or minor wound and the conditions are anaerobic, the spores germinate and release the toxins.
Tetanus may follow burns, deep puncture wounds, ear or dental infections, animal bites, abortion.
Only the growing bacteria can produce the toxin.
It is the only vaccine-preventable disease that is infectious but not contagious from person to person.

Symptoms

  Tetanic seizures (painful, powerful bursts of muscle contraction)
  if the muscle spasms affect the larynx or chest wall, they may cause asphyxiation
  stiffness of jaw (also called lockjaw)
  stiffness of abdominal and back muscles
  contraction of facial muscles
  fast pulse
 fever
sweating
Types of tetanus:  local, cephalic, generalized, neonatal
  Incubation period: 3-21 days, average 8 days.
Uncommon types:
  Local tetanus: persistent muscle contractions in the same anatomic area as the injury, which will however subside after many weeks; very rarely fatal; milder than generalized tetanus, although it could precede it.
  Cephalic tetanus: occurs with ear infections or following injuries of the head; facial muscles contractions. 
  Most common types:
Generalized tetanus
-          descending pattern: lockjaw à stiffness of neck à difficulty swallowing à rigidity of abdominal and back muscles.
-          Spasms continue for 3-4 weeks, and recovery can last for months
-          Death occurs when spasms interfere with respiration.
Neonatal tetanus:
-          Form of generalized tetanus that occurs in newborn infants born without protective passive immunity because the mother is not immune.
-        Usually occurs through infection of the unhealed umbilical stump, particularly when the stump is cut with an unsterile instrument.

 Methods of diagnosis

  Based on the patient’s account and physical findings that are characteristic of the disease.
  Diagnostic studies generally are of little value, as cultures of the wound site are negative for C. tetani two-thirds of the time.
n  When the culture is positive, it confirms the diagnosis of tetanus
  Tests that may be performed include the following:
n  Culture of the wound site (may be negative even if tetanus is present)
n  Tetanus antibody  test
n  Other tests may be used to rule out meningitis, rabies, strychnine poisoning, or other diseases with similar symptoms.

 Clinical treatment
 If treatment is not sought early, the disease is often fatal.
 The bacteria are killed with antibiotics, such as penicillin or tetracycline; further toxin production is thus prevented.
  The toxin is neutralized with shots of tetanus immune globulin, TIG.
  Other drugs may be given to provide sedation, relax the muscles and relieve pain.
 Due to the extreme potency of the toxin, immunity does not result after the disease.

 Method of prevention - immunization
  A person recovering from tetanus should begin active immunization with tetanus toxoid (Td) during convalescence.
  The tetanus toxoid is a formalin-inactivated toxin, with an efficiency of approx. 100%.
  The DTaP vaccine includes tetanus, diphteria and pertussis toxoids; it is routinely given in the US during childhood. After 7 years of age, only Td needs to be administered.
  Because the antitoxin levels decrease over time, booster immunization shots are needed every 10 years.

What else can be done?
  Remove and destroy the source of the toxin through surgical exploration and cleaning of the wound (debridement).
  Bedrest with a nonstimulating environment (dim light, reduced noise, and stable temperature) may be recommended.
  Sedation may be necessary to keep the affected person calm.
  Respiratory support with oxygen, endotracheal tube, and mechanical ventilation may be necessary.

points on pharmacology

1drug used in cysticercosis :- prazequental
2 most vunerable period of pregnancy for the causation of foetal malformation is:- 19-55 days
3 a patient on digoxine should not be given qunidine because it displaces digoxin from its protein binding site
4 potassium sparing diurtics are contraindicated because they can causes hyperkelimia  which may causes cardiac depression 
5 stage lll plane 3 general anesthesia surgery is done
6 phenothiazine causes extrapyramidal symtoms
 
7 the rate of injection of IV. valium is 1ml/min
8 doxacurium a recently introduse muscle relaxant has longest duration of action 
9 piroxicame is rapidly and completly absorb entrohepatic cycling occure plasma t1/2 is long nearly 2 days single daily adminstration is sufficient .