Journal of Baghdad College of Dentistry

Background: The interest in herbal extracts as antimicrobial agents has increased over the past few years in endodontic therapy. Nasturtium officinale (watercress) is a promising plant with great medicinal values. This study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of watercress oil in combination with calcium hydroxide against Candida albicans as intracanal medicament.
Materials and Methods: Candida albicans was isolated from patients with necrotic root canal or failed root canal treatment. The sensitivity of Candida albicans to different concentrations of watercress oil extract was determined by using the agar well diffusion method in comparison with calcium hydroxide paste. The agar plate method was used to determine the minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of the tested oil against the fungus. The combination of the oil extract of Nasturtium officinale with calcium hydroxide was evaluated and compared to calcium hydroxide paste with iodoform by using the agar well diffusion method.
Results: The oil extract exhibited antifungal activity against Candida albicans, this activity was found to be increased as the concentration of extract increased. The tested combination of watercress oil extract with calcium hydroxide revealed larger inhibition zones than the ones formed by each tested agent individually.
Conclusion: The oil extract of Nasturtium officinale is active against Candida albicans suggesting its potential to be used as an intracanal medicament alone or in combination with calcium hydroxide.

Background: The COVID-19 virus outbreak had a massive effect on many parts of people's lives, as they were advised to quarantine and lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading, which had a big impact on people's mental health, anxiety, and stress. Many internal and external factors lead to stress. This negatively influences the body's homeostasis. As a result, stress may affect the body's capacity to use energy to defend against pathogens. Many recent investigations have found substantial links between human mental stress and the production of hormones, prohormones, and/or immunological chemicals. some of these researches have verified the link between stress and salivary cortisol levels. The aim of this study is to measure salivary cortisol as a stress biomarker as well as a total viable count of salivary bacterial microbiome among COVID-19 patients.
Materials and methods: a sample of 84 adults patients was collected who were divided into two groups: the COVID-19 group consists of 42 patients and the COVID-19 free group which consists of 42 subjects. All subjects undergo a PCR test to confirm their health status. The collection of Un-stimulated saliva was done. Laboratory investigations were carried out to measure the total viable count of the salivary bacterial microbiome by culturing on Brain Heart Infusion Agar and to evaluate the salivary cortisol level using cortisol kit (Elecsys Cortisol II).
Results: SPSS version 21 was used for statistical analysis. According to the statistical analysis, the salivary cortisol and total viable count of salivary bacterial microbiome values were substantially greater in the COVID-19 group than in the COVID-19 free group.
Conclusion: A positive association was found between salivary cortisol and the total viable count of the salivary bacterial microbiome. So, when the concentration of salivary cortisol is elevated in the COVID-19 group, the level of the total viable count of the salivary bacterial microbiome is also elevated.

Background: Morphology of the root canal system is divergent and unpredictable, and rather linked to clinical complications, which directly affect the treatment outcome. This objective necessitates a continuous informative update of the effective clinical and laboratory methods for identifying this anatomy, and classification systems suitable for communication and interpretation in different situations.
Data: Only electronic published papers were searched within this review. Sources: “PubMed” website was the only source used to search for data by using the following keywords "root", "canal", "morphology", "classification".
Study selection: 153 most relevant papers to the topic were selected, especially the original articles and review papers, from 1970 till the 28th of July 2021.
Conclusions: This review divided the root canal analysis methods into two approaches; clinical and in vitro techniques. The latter has shown more precise non-subjective readings, on the other hand; the clinical methods provide direct chair side diagnosis for the clinical cases. The classification systems reviewed in the present study, started with the oldest trials that simply presented the root canal systems, according to the degree of angulation, or by coded Latin numbers or English letters. Then, the most recent systems were also presented that were persisted with continuous editions up to date. These new systems could briefly describe the root and root canal’s internal and external details in a small formulation, without confusion and in an easily communicated manner, highly recommended specially for students, teachers, and researchers

Background: The Titanium and its alloys are suitable for dental implant and medical applications. Biocompatibility of the materials is a major factor in determining the success of the implant and has a great impact on their rate of osseointegration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biocompatibility and cytotoxicity of Ti2AlC in comparison to CPTi & Ti6Al7Nb in rabbits.
Materials and Methods: 10 male New Zealand White rabbits, weighing (2-2.5 kg), aged (10-12 months) were used in this study. Cylindrical implants were prepared from the study materials (CPTi, Ti6Al7Nb and Ti2AlC) with (8mm) height and (3mm) diameter for the evaluation of tissue response and disc specimens were prepared with (6 mm) diameter and (2 mm) thickness for evaluation of cytotoxicity MTT test. A histological study was performed at 2 & 6 weeks post- surgical implant insertion.
Results: Histological findings show that Ti2AlC has enhanced proliferation of osteo-progenitor cell and reported mature bone formation at 6 weeks. Moreover, Ti2AlC has recorded a higher percentage for viable cells by MTT test in comparison to CPTi and Ti6Al7Nb.
Conclusion: The new Ti2AlC dental implant is considered biocompatible and has showed a better bone formation than the CPTi and Ti6Al7Nb materials at 2 & 6 weeks.

Aim: To evaluate the wettability and microhardness of Zirconium (ZrO2) dental material when coated with different concentrations of Faujasite.
Materials and methods: 30 circular disks produced from ZrO2, then each group is classified into 10 control groups, 10 coated groups with 3% Faujasite, and 10 coated groups with 7% faujasite by electro-spun tool to study variable properties in hardness and water contact angle of implant materials.
Results: This study stated the high hardness in 7% of faujasite concentration for ZrO2, in addition, the contact angle decreased gradually until reach 0 ᵒ in 7% concentration of faujasite with ZrO2
Conclusion: Water contact angle (WCA) declined till disappeared in (7% wt.) of faujasite coated with the ZrO2 group, also in the same group the microhardness became high compared with other groups due to alteration in surface morphology of substrate, and properties of coated material.

Background: Implant stability is a mandatory factor for dental implant (DI) osseointegration and long-term success. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of implant length, diameter, and recipient jaw on the pre- and post-functional loading stability.
Materials and methods: This study included 17 healthy patients with an age range of 24-61 years. Twenty-two DI were inserted into healed extraction sockets to replace missing tooth/teeth in premolar and molar regions in upper and lower jaws. Implant stability was measured for each implant and was recorded as implant stability quotient (ISQ) immediately (ISQ0), and at 8 (ISQ8) and 12 (ISQ12) weeks postoperatively, as well as post-functional loading (ISQPFL). The pattern of implant stability changes throughout the study period and its correlation with the recipient jaw and the DI dimensions were evaluated.
Results: There was a significant difference in ISQ values throughout the study. DI stability in the maxilla was significantly higher than that in mandible for the ISQ0, with no significant effect for the rest time points. The effect of implant diameter was significant with DI of 4.1mm diameter being more stable. While for the length, there was no significant difference regarding its effect on ISQ values throughout the study period.
Conclusions: DI inserted in the maxilla demonstrated better primary stability with no effect of recipient jaw on secondary stability and after functional loading, also DI with wider diameter had better stability throughout the study whereas DI length showed no significant effect on stability.

Background: Knowledge about the prevalence and distribution of pathologies in a particular location is important when a differential diagnosis is being formulated. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence and the clinicopathological features of odontogenic cysts and tumors affecting the maxilla and to discuss the unusual presentation of those lesions within the maxillary sinus.
Materials and Methods: A multicenter retrospective analysis was performed on pathology archives of patients who were diagnosed with maxillary odontogenic cysts and tumors from 2010 to 2020. Data were collected with respect to age, gender and location.
Result: A total of 384 cases was identified, 320 (83.3%) cases were diagnosed as odontogenic cysts and 64 (16.6%) as odontogenic tumors. The mean age was 30.5 years with a standard deviation of 16.2 years. Male patients were more commonly affected (n=220, 57.3%). Radicular cyst was the most common cyst (n=205, 64.1%), while the most common tumor was odontoma (n=14, 21.9%) and dentigerous cyst was the most common lesion to present within the maxillary sinus.
Conclusion: This study indicates that there are some geographic similarities and differences in regard to distribution of odontogenic cysts and tumors in the maxilla and it raises awareness of their presentation within the maxillary sinus especially if there is an association with an ectopic or adjacent impacted tooth.