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Dental education in Singapore has come a long way since the founding of the Dental School in 1929. With an initial intake of 7 students, the Faculty has over the years produced more than 1700 graduates. Its early years were fraught with physical constraints and recruitment problems. With a dedicated core of leaders and good planning, the dental school has overcome many of these shortcomings. The King Edward VII College of Medicine played a significant role in the early years of the school's development. Many a student of the past era has pleasant memories that bind and bond them to the SGH Sepoy Lines campus. Acquiring full Dental Faculty status in 1966, the progress of dental education took on a new urgency and stature. The basic medical science subjects were taught to the dental students by our medical colleagues at Sepoy Lines and now continue to be tutored at the Kent Ridge campus. With the shift of the Faculty in 1986 to Kent Ridge (NUS-NUH), together with the implementation of the changed curriculum in 1990 and 1997, the Faculty of Dentistry remains at the forefront of pedagogy and technology to train the future generation of dentists for Singapore.

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Chronic pain and depression often occur simultaneously, may have common causal mechanisms, and may also influence each other. An understanding of their precise relationship would be useful for the prediction of response to treatment and for better pain management for chronic pain patients. A biopsychosocial model will be used in this review paper to elucidate the relationship between chronic pain and depression in biological, social, and psychological terms. Due to the enormous amount of information available, only a selective review of the most relevant literature was done. A critical analysis of the selected literature on the relationship between chronic pain and depression was performed to present an insight into this complex relationship.

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Trigeminal neuralgia is a type of facial pain that is difficult to treat. The pain can be excruciating and debilitating. The wide range of treatments currently used for trigeminal neuralgia is ample evidence that there is no simple answer to how it should be managed. This review will evaluate the current surgical procedures used for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. A critical analysis of the evidence-based studies to date was done to evaluate and compare the efficacy of the different surgical procedures. Arguments for and against the use of surgery for trigeminal neuralgia are presented. In addition, the surgical procedures were compared with other treatments for trigeminal neuralgia.

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Formation of plaque on the surfaces of dentures is a common problem among denture wearers. A study was conducted to determine the distribution of plaque on dentures. The plaque material was disclosed with a dye solution and measured with a modified Quigley-Hein scale. A photographic method was used to determine the distribution of plaque on the dentures of a group of complete-denture wearers. The effectiveness of a perborate soak-type cleanser was also measured by studying the precleaned and postcleaned states of the denture. Denture plaque was more evident on the fitting surfaces of the dentures than on areas of the flange, teeth, and palate. The use of the soak-type cleanser alone may not be completely effective for the control of heavy plaque.

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In the absence of pre-extraction records, investigators have used various methods to aid in the selection and placement of artificial teeth for complete dentures. Natural tooth position and size provide the dentist with an optimal guide. A study was conducted on a group of ethnic Chinese subjects where direct measurements were made of the arch size and width of the maxillary central incisor on stone casts. The anterior arch width represented by the inter-canine cusp tip distance was 35.74 +/- 2.17mm. The mesiodistal diameter of the maxillary central incisor was 8.85 +/- 0.59mm with a range of 7.60mm to 11.20mm. The results of this study was discussed against other findings on the Caucasian, Nigerian and Malay groups. The significance of artificial tooth selection for dentures was highlighted in relation to the results obtained from the study for the group of Chinese and other races.

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A woman presented with temporomandibular dysfunction caused by a marked overclosure of her mandible. She complained of pain and clicking noises in her temporomandibular joint. After initial assessment and treatment with a provisional occlusal acrylic resin splint, the patient was provided with a definitive overlay denture with visible light-cured resin as occlusal overlays. The denture was stable in the mouth and the occlusal resin material showed some occlusal wear at the 2-year examination.

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Traditionally the distal extension mandibular RPD is designed with the use of major connectors in cobalt chromium alloy with its associated clasping systems. However when few teeth remain, especially in the mandible, it may be helpful to use an alternative method of treatment, such as this acrylic resin labial denture design to provide as inexpensive interim alternative. The design allows easy additions of artificial teeth to the denture. Patients on whom this design is used should pursue an intense course of oral hygiene to maintain the condition of the periodontium and ridge.

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Using a double selection process comprised of professional and lay judges, the cephalometric tracings on a final sample of 48 Chinese adults with esthetically pleasing profiles were analyzed. The soft-tissue cephalometric norms and standard deviations of two widely accepted soft-tissue analyses, the Legan and Burstone analysis and the Holdaway analysis, were determined. In comparison with white norms, the Chinese nose was less prominent (P < .01), the nasolabial angle was less obtuse (P < .01), both the upper and lower lips were more protrusive (P < .05), the upper lip curvature was greater (P < .01), and the soft-tissue chin thickness was less (P < .05). This variance between racial types emphasizes the need to recognize that soft-tissue lateral cephalometric norms are specific for the racial group and cannot always be applied across different racial types.

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A clinical study was conducted on a group of 20 patients who presented with epulis fissuratum caused by denture wearing. CO 2 laser surgery was used to treat these patients and the cases were followed up over a two-year period. The advantage of CO 2 laser surgery on oral tissues was evident by the good response to healing four weeks postoperatively and beyond. No sutures or packing of any kind were used and the wound was allowed to granulate. Re-epithelialization occurred in all patients within 14 days and was complete after about 4 weeks. The lack of wound contraction, scarring, and good re-epithelialization combined with precise tissue destruction make CO 2 laser surgery ideal for this procedure when compared with conventional surgical techniques. The advantage of using CO 2 laser surgery has been demonstrated clinically in the patients treated in this study.

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Odontometric measurements of anterior tooth crown sizes in a Chinese sample of 85 Class I occlusions were similar to those published in the white population except for larger upper lateral incisors and smaller upper central incisors in Chinese. Sex differences in tooth sizes were seen only in the maxillary and mandibular canines while differences between antimeres were not significant. The Bolton ratios of our Chinese sample revealed a Bolton ratio of 77.89 +/- 1.62 for the combined mesio-distal widths of the six mandibular anterior teeth as compared to the combined mesio-distal widths of the six maxillary anterior teeth. Surprisingly, the Bolton ratio in our sample compared favourably with those originally published by Bolton although the interfacial angles, overbite and overjet relationships were statistically different.

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Technological advances in industrial manufacturing have contributed to improvement in productivity and quality of dental care. However, computer technology has also been exploited but not to the same extent as other forms of technology. This paper examines computer applications that have been utilised by various groups of dental professionals in the provision of dental care and in dental education. The benefits derived from existing applications and future possibilities are seen in the following fields. In practice management, besides the usual collecting, sorting and searching of data, productivity and efficiency are greatly increased through computer appointments, recall and practice analysis programmes. In patient education, the use of computer graphics has enabled simulation of cosmetic changes to be presented to the patient with before and after possibilities. Dental education and communications have moved forward with the introduction of Computer Assisted Instruction programmes, and bibliographic databases including electronic transmission of Continuing Dental Education which are now easily available. In the field of Diagnostics and Treatment planning, the advent of CAD-CAM has made possible the use of cutting devices which mills a 3-dimensional model of the designed restoration from solid blocks of gold. Computer applications has also been used in forensic dentistry where identification systems describe tooth conditions and other oral characteristics besides automated screening and matching of antemortem databases.

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A clinical study on the presentation of denture hyperplasia was conducted on 15 patients with particular reference to age group, use and care of dentures, type and location of the hyperplastic lesion. The pilot study shows that a greater proportion of the studied sample were in the 50-60 years age group with a majority of them being unaware of the presence of the lesion in their mouth. Eleven of them responded that they use their dentures day and night. The incidence of lesions occurring in the lower jaw compared with the upper jaw was approximately 2:1. The average duration of denture usage was 8.7 years. Correct use of dentures and regular maintenance with professional care can help prevent the occurrence of these lesions.

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The CO2 laser was introduced in Singapore in 1985 for dental surgery. It delivered a novel and brilliant adjunct for management of orofacial lesions and conditions. Tissue destruction is precise, immediate and quite bloodless. Oedema is not remarkable and healing produces minimal scarring. For small mucosal lesions, a power of 5 to 10 watts is sufficient. It is particularly useful for broad-based lesions and white lesions in the oral cavity. For major oral surgery, a power of 20 watts would be adequate for surgical excision. It reduces the invasiveness and trauma of surgery and lowers post-operative complications. The effects on dental hard tissues provide an exciting area for development and research and its uses here are gaining acceptance.

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The arrangement of artificial anterior teeth in complete dentures has always relied on certain biometric guides. A study was conducted on 118 Chinese subjects to determine if there was any relationship between the interalar nose width and intercanine distance. The results show that men have wider noses and slightly greater intercanine distance compared to women. These dimensions have been shown to be generally greater than similar studies conducted on Caucasian subjects. However there was no demonstrable correlation between interalar width of nose and intercanine distance.

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Different quantities and sizes of peanuts were offered to six human subjects for mastication at two or three experimental sessions during which jaw movements and chewing cycle duration were measured. The amplitude of vertical movement and cycle duration depended on the position of a chew in a sequence of chews (masticatory sequence). Cycle duration also depended on the position of a given masticatory sequence during the first experimental session, the earlier sequences tending to be longer. Lateral jaw movements fluctuated about a reasonably constant value during a sequence and were unaffected by different food inputs. The amplitude of vertical movements increased markedly with an increase in food weight but was unaffected by change in the initial food particle size. These results were analyzed in the light of previous reports on the comminution of peanuts. It is hypothesized that observed jaw movements were unrelated to food particle size but that the amplitude of each vertical movement depended on the volume of food that was broken by the teeth during the next closing stroke. This food volume was provided and selected by bulk movements of the tongue during the preceding jaw opening.

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A case report of Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia is presented. The oro-facial features are described together with the dental management of the condition. Children who have this condition should be treated early for their prosthodontic needs to aid mastication and appearance. Continued review and replacement of dentures provided should be instituted for the growing child.

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