Objectives: The purpose of this article is to systematically review the methods of mobilization, isolation and characterization of stem cells from peripheral blood and to discuss their potential therapeutic applications for bone tissue regeneration.

Material and Methods: An electronic literature search was performed through MEDLINE (PubMed) electronic database. The search was restricted to English language articles published during the last 10 years, from January 2006 to November 2016.

Results: In total, 37 literature sources were reviewed, and 11 of the most relevant articles that are suitable to the criteria were selected. Articles were analysed with data on animals and humans for mobilization, isolation and characterization of stem cells from peripheral blood. From the examination of selected articles, the mobilization materials, side effects, alternatives and factors affecting the extracted amount of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) from mobilized peripheral blood of healthy individuals, as well as characterization of mobilized MSC were reviewed in this article.

Conclusions: Bone tissue engineering is a potential alternative strategy in bone regeneration and bone defect repair, however, insufficiency data display in the literature on potential therapeutic applications of peripheral blood stem cells for bone tissue regeneration.

Objectives: The objective was to test the hypothesis of no difference in implant treatment outcome after installation of implants with a scalloped implant-abutment connection compared to a flat implant-abutment connection.

Material and Methods: A MEDLINE (PubMed), Embase and Cochrane library search in combination with a hand-search of relevant journals was conducted. No language or year of publication restriction was applied.

Results: The search provided 298 titles. Three studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The included studies were characterized by low or moderate risk of bias. Survival of suprastructures has never been compared within the same study. High implant survival rate was reported in all the included studies. Significantly more peri-implant marginal bone loss, higher probing depth score, bleeding score and gingival score was observed around implants with a scalloped implant-abutment connection. There were no significant differences between the two treatment modalities regarding professional or patient-reported outcome measures. Meta-analysis disclosed a mean difference of peri-implant marginal bone loss of 1.56 mm (confidence interval: 0.87 to 2.25), indicating significant more bone loss around implants with a scalloped implant-abutment connection.

Conclusions: A scalloped implant-abutment connection seems to be associated with higher peri-implant marginal bone loss compared to a flat implant-abutment connection. Therefore, the hypothesis of the present systematic review must be rejected. However, further long-term randomized controlled trials assessing implant treatment outcome with the two treatment modalities are needed before definite conclusions can be provided about the beneficial use of implants with a scalloped implant-abutment connection on preservation of the peri-implant marginal bone level.

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to compare the cytotoxicity of Reso-Pac and Coe-Pak periodontal dressing.

Material and Methods: According to ISO-10993-12:2012, 1-, 3- and 7-day extracts of the two periodontal dressings were prepared in cell culture medium and exposed to the two cultured cell lines. Cell viability and proliferation at 24 h and 72 h following exposure were evaluated using quantitative MTT assay.

Results: The results showed a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in the viability of cells exposed to the 3- and 7-day Coe-Pak extracts at 24 h and 72 h compared to the control group (no exposure to the extract). Reso-Pac extracts slightly decreased cell viability compared to the control group. Understudy materials showed greater cytotoxicity against human osteoblast-like compared to the human gingival fibroblast cells. No significant (P > 0.05) difference was found in the viability of cells exposed to undiluted (100%) one-day extract and diluted (50%) extract of both understudy materials at 24 h and 72 h after exposure.

Conclusions: Based on the results, Reso-Pac periodontal dressing has less cytotoxicity than Coe-Pak.

Objectives: To assess the dental status of institutionalized intellectually disabled individuals in Lebanon and the role of background and behavioural determinants.

Material and Methods: Oral health was recorded for 652 individuals (6, 12, 15 and 35 - 44 years old) using the decayed, missing and filled teeth/decayed and filled teeth (DMFT/dft) index. Data collected was statistically analysed with statistical significance set at P = 0.05.

Results: Overall, mean DMFT index score was 5.86 (SD 6); composed of 3.64 (SD 4.05) decayed (D) teeth; 1.71 (SD 4.38) missing (M) teeth; 0.87 (SD 2.51) filled (F) teeth. DMFT was highest in adults (12.71 [SD 7.43]) and had a large component of missing (6.24 [SD 7.02]) and filled (3.31 [SD 4.56]) teeth. DMFT scores ranged between 3.5 (SD 4.44) at 6 years and 4.8 (SD 4.52) at 15 years and the decayed component was the main contributor. In multivariate analyses, governorate of residence was statistically significantly (P ≤ 0.040 and P ≤ 0.044) associated with D and DMFT, the degree of disability and caretaker educational level were statistically significantly (P = 0.009 and P = 0.008) associated with D, oral hygiene practices were statistically significantly (P ≤ 0.017; P < 0.001; P ≤ 0.017; P < 0.001) associated with D, M, F and DMFT and sugar consumption was statistically significantly (P ≤ 0.03 and P ≤ 0.019) associated with D and DMFT.

Conclusions: In Lebanon, preventive and treatment programs to improve the oral health status of institutionalized intellectually disabled subjects are needed.

Background: Sjögren’s syndrome is a chronic systemic disease, characterized by lymphocytic infiltration and destruction mainly of the salivary and lacrimal glands, resulting in xerostomia and xeropthalmia. Sjögren’s syndrome patients have a 44-fold excess risk for the development of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma particularly mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, prevalently affecting the major salivary glands. In this report, a rare case of MALT lymphoma of minor salivary glands in a patient with Sjögren’s syndrome is described. A review of the published cases of MALT lymphoma located in the minor salivary glands of patients with Sjögren’s syndrome is provided.

Methods: In a 64-year-old female patient previously diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome, an asymptomatic soft tissue mass at the palate was noticed, exhibiting rapid enlargement within one month. With a main differential diagnosis of salivary gland neoplasm or lymphoproliferative lesion, a partial biopsy was performed accompanied by proper immunohistochemical analysis.

Results: A final diagnosis of MALT lymphoma was rendered and the patient was referred for further multidisciplinary evaluation. Gastric endoscopy and biopsy revealed a Helicobacter pylori-negative gastric MALT lymphoma, while spleen involvement and bone marrow infiltration were also identified. Patient was classified as having stage IV disseminated disease and a standard chemotherapy protocol was administered; the treatment was well tolerated and resulted in complete remission.

Conclusions: This case emphasizes the need for close monitoring of patients with Sjögren’s syndrome by oral medicine specialists, which, besides ensuring proper management of xerostomia and its sequelae, may also lead to early recognition of lymphoma development.