Doctor Scientiae Dentium - DSc(Dent) (Odontology)

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    Oral submucous fibrosis in Durban, Natal: a study of its epidemiology, aetiology and morphological features
    (Stellenbosch University, 1985) Seedat, Hoosen Ahmed; van Wyk, C W
    There is no satisfactory statistical record of oral submucous fibrosis in the Republic of South Africa or India. The present prevalence study of OSF among Indians in the municipal area of Durban was planned by the Institute for Biostatistics of the South African Medical Research Council. The sampling consisted of a stratified random survey and the total number of subjects examined was 2 058. They were stratified into the age groups: 10-14, 15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+ years, and into sexes. Each age group included 294 people (147 males and 147 females). From the 29 suburbs included in this survey 147 points were sampled. The number of sampling points was calculated proportional to the population size. At each sampling point one individual of each sex in each age group was selected i.e. 14 individuals at each sampling point.
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    Forensic Radiographic Identification Using Manipulated Digital Dental Images
    (University of the Western Cape, 1996) Wood, Robert Edgar; Nortjé, C.J.
    A technique was developed for the assessment of forensic identification using dental radiographs. The technique involved the digitisation of dental radiographs, cutting of a horizontal section from an antemortem radiograph and superimposing it over the same geographic location on the postmortem radiograph. The technique was useful in vitro and in an in vitro mock mass disaster. It was accurate within both the paediatric and permanent dentition and not useful in subjects with changing dentitions (mixed dentition). Image density (with and without optical enhancement) did not prove to be an impediment to the technique although extremes of image contrast did. Within the range of dental xray generators settings, contrast could be altered in a manner to allow matching. Differences in the vertical angulation of the x-ray beam did not influence the technique although horizontal angulation was a critical factor. Alterations in focal-film distance did not adversely affect the use of this technique. The three different scanning systems used were .all adequate for the purpose of the technique and the images could be compressed and transferred with little difficulty. Analysis of a group of actual Coroner's cases proved the technique to be useful in a timely fashion, for actual field identifications with minimal inter and intra operator error.
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    Head Injuries: Risk factors and consequences
    (University of the Western Cape, 2002) Lalloo, Ratilal; Sheiham, Aubrey
    Injuries, and head injuries in particular, are a common cause of childhood, adolescent and young adulthood morbidity and mortality. The risk factors for injuries in general have been well researched. But it remains uncertain whether these factors are similar for specific injuries, such as head injuries. The inter-relationships between individual and environmental risk factors are difficult to study. Whilst much is know of the short-term consequences of head injuries, relatively little information is available on their long-term conseque~ces. The follow-up period in most research is short (often less than 1 year) and studies are weak in terms of design. Studies generally find a variety of social, cognitive and psychological consequences in children and young adults experiencing head injuries. This study assessed in two large, nationally representative samples, a 1946 birth cohort and a 1997 cross-sectional health survey: 1) the occurrence and risk factors for childhood, adolescent and early adulthood head and other injuries, and 2) the long-term cognitive and psychiatric effects of skull injuries. The overall findings for the risk factors across the two data sets and over 5 decades of data collection were strikingly similar. Maleness was a major risk factor for the head and other injuries. Some of the behaviour and personality factors such as hyperactivity and being neurotic, even after adjusting for sex, socioeconomic status and family type, remained significantly related to injuries, particularly those affecting the head region. A clustering of demographic, socioeconomic, family and behavioural risk factors significantly increased the likelihood of injuries, particularly recurring injuries with at least one being a head injury. In the unadjusted analyses socioeconomic status and family type were less consistently related to injuries. The long-term psychiatric and cognitive consequences of skull injuries causing concussion and skull fractures in childhood and early adulthood were negligible. Other childhood factors such as educational ability, behaviour and personality, and level of education achieved were more predictive of psychiatric symptoms and cognitive problems in adulthood. This study suggests that children and adolescents with behavioural and personality problems were at greater risk of head and other injuries in childhood, adolescence and later in adulthood. Children and adolescents with behavioural and personality problems were more likely to live in manual social class families and families with a single parent or stepparent. This combination of behavioural problems and deprived socioeconomic and family circumstances may increase tendencies for violent behaviour, alcohol dependence and manual occupations later in adulthood, which all increase the risk of injuries. There is therefore a need to identify children and adolescents with behavioural and personality problems as early as possible to prevent the impact in the short- and longterm. This will not only reduce the burden of injuries but also the many other consequence of behavioural and personality problems, particularly when located within deprived socioeconomic and family circumstances.
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    Dental maturation of the permanent mandibular teeth of South African children and the relation to chronological age
    (2009) Phillips, Vincent Michael; Nortjé, C.J.; Morris, A.G.
    Age estimation of the skeletal remains of children can be accomplished by examination of the ossification centres and the fusion of the epiphyseal plates of long bones. Dental age estimation is done by examining the eruption of the deciduous and permanent teeth. Both these methods are inaccurate and are subject to the nutritional status of the individual. A more accurate method of age estimation is by the examination of radiographic images of the developmental stages of the tooth crown and root formation. Two methods of dental age estimation used are those of Moorrees, Fanning and Hunt (1963) (MFH) and that of Demirjian, Goldstein and Tanner (1973) (DGT). These methods were tested on a sample of 913 Tygerberg dental patients; a random mixture of Caucasoid and Khoisanoid children. The MFH method under-estimated the ages of the sample by an average of 0.91 years and the DGT method over-estimated the ages by an average of 0.89 years. Samples of Indian and Negroid children from Kwa-Zulu Natal were tested in a similar manner and the results showed similar under and over-estimation of the ages by these methods. The Negroid children were labelled the Zulu sample. Correction factors were derived for the MFH and DGT methods of dental age estimation when used on Tygerberg, Indian and Zulu children. These correction factors were tested on the samples and found to improve the accuracy of the age estimation methods of MFH and DGT significantly.A second sample group of Tygerberg, Indian and Zulu children were then tested firstly using the standard method of MFH and DGT and the using the correction factors. The results showed that the correction factors improved the age estimation on these samples except in the case of the DGT method on Zulu children. A sample of Xhosa speaking children were added to the two Zulu samples and made an Nguni sample. The Tygerberg samples were combined as were the Indian samples to form data bases for the construction of dental age related tables for Tygerberg, Indian and Nguni children. These tables show that there are distinct differences in the ages at which the teeth develop in the different sample groups and that dental age related tables are necessary for children of different population origins. Statistical analysis of the age related tables from this study (Phillips Tables) show these tables are more accurate in the age estimation of South African children.
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    Synthesis and characterization of biopolymer nanoapatite composite electrospun bioactive scaffold: A potential application for guided tissue/bone regeneration
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019) Nadeem, Muhammad; Stephen, Lawrence
    Search for an ideal scaffold for guided tissue/bone (GTR/GBR) regeneration continues as till now none of the commercially available GTR/GBR membrane fulfils the desired criteria. Currently, a variety of new materials and techniques have been investigated all over the world to improve the properties of GTR/GBR membranes. In the recent past three dimensional bioactive scaffolds composed of natural polymers have gained enormous popularity as potential future GTR/GBR devices. Electrospinning has emerged as one of the relatively simple, cost effective and efficient technique to fabricate three dimensional nanofibrous scaffolds in the field of tissue engineering. The rationale of this project is to investigate the natural polymers based bioactive nanofibrous scaffolds for GTR/GBR applications in the field of Periodontology.
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    ‘Recommendations for the development of a framework for radiological imaging studies during implant therapy in SA’
    (University of the Western Cape, 2021) Beshtawi, Khaled Raed; Chetty, M.
    Radiographic examination is an essential facet of dental implant therapy, and the success of this therapy depends on a suitable treatment based on adequate clinical and radiographic information. International organisational bodies have published guidelines on the use of radiographic imaging during implant therapy, but since the cone beam computed tomography modality became available, a need for the development of comprehensive imaging guidelines to limit the misuse of this modality became necessary. There is a lack of stringency regarding the recommendations and guidelines on radiographic imaging modalities used during implant therapy. This is due to variations in practice, experience, and socioeconomic factors. The most recent published global guidelines and recommendations and their relevance to dental implant therapy are described in this chapter.