Clinical Annotation: A Continuous Simultaneous Interdental Suture Technique

RADIATION-INDUCED XEROSTOMIA IN CANCER PATIENTS. EFFECT ON SALIVARY AND SERUM ELECTROLYTES Dreizer, S., Brown, L. R . , Handler, S., and Levy, B. M. Cancer 38: 273, July, 1976. To observe the way ionizing radiations affect the output and pH of saliva in patients with radiosensitive malignancies of the head and neck, 30 patients (ages 7 to 76) with natural dentitions, were moni­ tored for salivary and serum electrolyte concentrations. Previous research showed that human salivary glands in the path of tumor- suppressing ionizing radiation undergo progressive glandular atro­ phy, fibrosis and reduction in output beginning shortly after the initial exposure and intensifying thereafter. The clinical findings were that the salivary pH decreased from 7.01 to 6.83 after 6 weeks of radiation. The average flow rate declined from 1.32 ml/min to 0.22 ml/min in the same period of treatment and reached a mean decline of 83.3% by 6 months postradiation. Dental caries began to be clinically evident by 3 months postradiation when the decrease in saliva production reached a mean decline of 93.4%. University of Texas Dental Science Institute, Houston, Texas 77025. Dr. Jacobo Saad PERIODONTAL CONDITION IN TURKISH RECRUITS Bayirli, G. S., and Curilovic, Z. Comm Dent Oral Epidemiol 4: 25, January, 1976. The periodontal status of 300 Turkish recruits, ages 19 to 22, was evaluated and a modified Ramfjord periodontal index determined. Further, the gingival condition, calculus and plaque present, location and depth of periodontal pockets, mobility of teeth, diastema magni­ tude, and DMFT index were determined. The average PDI was 3.8. Considering the total recruit population, 97.6% suffered from gin­ givitis, 68% of whom showed moderate to severe inflammation of the gingiva without involvement of deeper structures. Heavy deposits of calculus and moderate accumulations of plaque were noted. A relatively low DMFT rate found in the present investigation had little correlation with the plaque index. Wear facets, present in nearly all of those examined, were shallow in 88% of the subjects. Dental Institute, University of Zurich, Plattenstrasse 11, P.O. Box 163, CH- 8028, Zurich, Switzerland. Dr. Teresa Toledo THE ROLE OF COMPLEMENT IN INITIAL GINGIVITIS. I. THE EFFECT OF DECOMPLEMENTATION BY COBRA VENOM FACTOR Kahnberg, K . E . , Lindhe, J., and Attstrom, R . J Periodont Res 11: 269, September, 1976. In four Beagle dogs, gingivitis was induced during an 8-hour period by topical application of an extract of human plaque to the margin of normal gingiva on one side before and on the other side following decomplementation. Colloidal carbon was injected intrave­ nously in a hind leg after 6V2 hours of plaque extract and tissues from the biopsies were examined for carbon in the vascular units beneath the junctional epithelium as well as for leukocytes in the junctional epithelium. An attraction of mononuclear leukocytes and neutrophils in addition to an alteration in the function of the dentogingival vasculature were seen in the normal tissue. In the decomplemented animals the plaque components showed a reduced capacity to influ­ ence vascular function, but nearly the same leukocyte migration into the junctional epithelium. Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Odontology, PACK S-400 33, Gothenburg 33, Sweden. Dr. Jahansah Boroumand