A Paediatric dentist may be the first person consulted for professional advice concerning children with speech problems. A positive significant relationship has been hypothesized by some authors between tongue-thrust swallowing and articulation disorders in children. This study was undertaken to find out whether any articulation disorders are associated with the habit of tongue-thrust swallowing, or is it the type of anterior bite that plays an important role in the normal or abnormal speech production in tongue-thrust swallowers. Forty subjects with tongue-thrust swallowing in the age group of 7-16 years were examined. Of these 20 had normal anterior bite while rest had anterior open bite. A word articulation test was used and word level articulation testing was done for initial, medial and final positions. The sounds tested were: Linguoalveolars, Labiodentals, Linguodentals, Linguopalatals, Bilabials and Linguovelars. The results of the study have indicated that the presence of articulation disorders is strongly associated with the anterior open bite present in tongue-thrust swallowers but a simple, direct relationship between the presence of defective consonant sounds and tongue-thrust swallowing has not been found.

The strength of Indian society lies in its social, cultural and religious infrastructure. This feature needs to be utilized for appropriate intervention in life styles of people for effective prevention of dental diseases, all of which are dependent, on life style, to a large extent.

This survey was carried out among 2902 children aged between 5 and 12 years attending 13 primary schools in various areas of Moodbidri, in Udupi district. The oral health status was assessed using the simplified WHO Oral Health Assessment Form. The caries prevalence was found to be 76.9%. The mean DMFT was 0.78 and the mean deft was 3.48. Although the mean DMFT score between males and females did not show any significant difference, the mean deft was found to be higher among males compared to females. It was also found that the mean DMFT score increased with age whereas the mean deft score decreased with age.

In this era of preventive dentistry, a galore of dental materials used for prevention of dental diseases is available. Since the last few decades efforts are being directed towards prevention of dental caries which is one of the major dental diseases tormenting mankind. The rationale of using a fissure sealant is that when it is applied on the caries prone fissures, it penetrates these pits and fissures and seals them from the oral environment. One of the main problems usually encountered is retention of the sealant material. This study was undertaken with the aim to evaluate the tensile bond strength of two new fissure sealants using invasive and non-invasive techniques. The results substantiated the use of invasive techniques over non-invasive techniques and resin sealants over glass ionomer sealants.

Six cases of asymptomatic dental twinning anomalies in the primary dentition are reported in 4205 school children. A clinical and radiographic presentation of the cases of fusion of primary incisor teeth is illustrated. This clinical entity has been found to appear with varied clinical and radiographic appearances. An association of fusion of primary incisors with the number of succedaneous teeth was seen.

Management of root fracture of mandibular lateral incisors during mixed dentition with developing crowding in a ten year old boy by bilateral surgical extraction. Migration of permanent canine into the extracted region of lateral incisors was favourable with minimal spacing in between the rest of the teeth. The near normal parallel position of the roots of the permanent canines was achieved by early treatment planning of extraction of the lateral incisors instead of treating by other modalities which have a poor prognosis.

Utilising the Bright Smiles, Bright Future curriculum as modified for India, a trial on its effectiveness was carried out at the Raja Shivaji School in Mumbai, India. Students from the third standard English medium were selected. The teacher training programme utilised a professional educator from the U.S.A. plus other international representatives including India. Prior to the beginning of any classroom instruction, all experimental and control students were scored for plaque. A pretest was also given to both the experimental and control students to measure their knowledge of dental health. At the end of the two month test period all measurements were repeated. The curriculum was evaluated by the teachers. Parents were also interviewed. Results showed significant (P < .0001) difference between the two groups in reducing plaque, which demonstrated the improvement in oral hygiene in the experimental group.

Mesiodens is a supernumerary tooth with a cone shaped crown and a short root situated between the maxillary central incisors. Supernumerary teeth occur as isolated dental findings or as part of a syndrome. They are frequently discovered when a normal tooth is either delayed in its eruption or displaced often resulting in arch length inadequacy. An early diagnosis allows early intervention, more favourable prognosis and minimal complications. Presented here are two cases of unusual bilateral mesiodens.