Is masking making a comeback?
As reported cases of late-summer COVID-19 increase, due largely to three new variants on the rise, Contagion Live reports some individual institutions are requiring people to wear face masks, including several universities and hospital systems. But in the absence of federal and state mask mandates, whether and when to wear one remains largely a personal decision, notes NPR.
Link between gum disease, migraine
A Taiwan study of some 66,000 participants to determine an association between periodontal disease and migraine noted a “significant positive association” between periodontal disease and migraine. The study, "Association of periodontal disease with migraine: A large-scale community-based cross-sectional study," reported Medscape, noted that participants with migraine exhibited a higher prevalence of periodontal disease than participants without and that “future studies need to explore the biological mechanisms of how periodontal disease might affect migraine.”
Clinical trial on post-implant stabilization material
RevBio, Inc., has received FDA approval to start a clinical trial to examine the safety and efficacy of a more rapidly replaced, pH-modified porous formulation of a bone adhesive biomaterial that would immediately stabilize dental implants following tooth extractions. The product, Tetranite, “will revolutionize how implant dentistry will be performed. The adhesive properties and handling characteristics of this material are incomparable to any product on the market,” said Paul A. Fugazzotto, DDS, a periodontist who’s conducting the trial, in a RevBio press release.
ICYMI: Use of amalgam in fillings decreases 73%
After analyzing more than 1.3 million filling encounters in the US from 2017 to 2022, researchers found the rate of amalgam fillings has decreased from 21.5% to 5.7%. The Epic Research study analyzed 1,346,918 posterior tooth filling encounters in that five-year span to assess the rate of amalgam fillings compared to resin or composite fillings each year, concluding that the rate of amalgam fillings has decreased from 21.5% of fillings in 2017 to 5.7% of fillings in 2022. However, in groups with the highest social vulnerability, the percentage of people who received amalgam fillings also decreased, but not by as much.
