• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.485-493
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• 2014

Objectives : The study investigated and analyzed the relationship between health-related lifestyle and psychosomatic self-reported symptom in dental hygiene students. Methods : A self-reported questionnaire was filled out by 478 dental hygiene students in Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do from March 7 to June 21, 2012 by random sampling method after informed consent. Results : The health-related lifestyle showed the results as follows. Nonsmokers accounted for 89.1%. Those who never exercise accounted for 67.9% and 37.9% of the students sleep for 5-6 hours. Those who take alcohols twice per month accounted for 58.2%. The correlation between the symptoms and lifestyle included multiple subjective symptoms(I), respiratory(A), eyes and skin(B) and digestive organs(C) symptoms and smoking status(p<.01), mouth and anal(D), depression(K), nervousness(E). There existed the correlation in average sleeping time(p<.01) and impulsivess(H) and smoking status(p<.05) and lie scale(L) and regular exercise(p<.05) and aggressiveness(F) and drinking habits and irregular and life(G) and breakfast habits. The smoking habit, sleeping time, and snack intake had an influence on psychosomatic self-reported oral health-related symptoms. Conclusions : Cessation of smoking, adequate sleeping time, and reduction of snack intake can improve the oral health-related lifestyle and reduce the self-reported symptoms in the dental hygiene students.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.36-44
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• 2014

Bruxism is a much-discussed clinical issue in dentistry. Although bruxism is not a life-threatening disorder, it can influence the quality of human life, especially through dental problems, such as, frequent fractures of dental restorations and pain in the orofacial region. This research has a goal to investigate the diagnostic methods of bruxism, to provide an appropriate information about various treatment in clinical situation, and to evaluate the effect and the usefulness of those methods. There is no certain remedy for bruxism that is a technically efficient and definitely reliable diagnosis and treatment. So, the primary purpose is to prevent the oral and maxilofacial tissue injuries from bruxism and to relieve the pain and symptom. Therefore, Combining various reversible treatments together, such as behavior modification, Oral appliances therapy and physiotherapy, is recommended. For a bruxism treatment in dental field, more researches about the factors influencing on diagnosis and cure are necessary.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.183-191
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• 2010

Dry mouth is easily neglected if not associated with oral diseases. Consequently, xerostomatic patients often use unconventional therapies. In traditional Korean medicine, Korean red ginseng (KRG) has long been used to relieve dry mouth. However, no clinical trials have investigated whether KRG actually has an effect on dry mouth. This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of KRG for dry mouth. We enrolled 100 volunteers with no obvious oral or salivary gland diseases and divided them into KRG and placebo groups. Each group was divided into six subgroups according to age and gender. The subjects received 6 g/day of KRG or placebo for 8 weeks. The dry mouth visual analog scale (VAS), salivary flow rate, and a dry mouth-related symptom questionnaire were evaluated at baseline and at 4 and 8 weeks. KRG treatment did not show any significant differences for any of the variables. However, KRG improved the dry mouth VAS at 4 weeks and dry mouthrelated symptoms at 8 weeks in women, but not in men. Subgroup analyses revealed that KRG markedly improved the dry mouth VAS in women of menopausal age (40 to 59 years) at 4 and 8 weeks. KRG may have beneficial effects for dry mouth in women, especially those of menopausal age, but not in men. Further investigation in post- and perimenopausal women is required to elaborate on these findings.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.380-383
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• 2006

Tetanus is rare in Korea due to the introduction of vaccination programs and the advancement in public health. Its common signs are trismus, voice disturbance, neck stiffness, and difficulty in swallowing, etc. A 56 years old man was injured by grasping a high voltage electric cable. After the accident, he fell down on a steel plate and had a head trauma. When he visited Emergency Department, there was multiple electric burn wound on left arm and left facial area. He was hospitalized on a department of neurosurgery, because intra cranial hemorrhage was presumed. 12 days later, he was referred to department of OMFS with developed painful masseter spasms and trismus. That night he violently bit his tongue with his denture. Because masseter muscle and temporal muscle constriction was involuntary, tongue was lacerated and denture was distorted. At first we supposed that the symptom was related with neurologic disturbance following head trauma or electric shock. But it was revealed that trismus was caused by tetanus on an electrophysiological test. By using mechanical ventilation and administration of tetanus immunoglobulin, muscle-relaxant, and sedatives at ICU, symptoms had subsided (4-weeks). Because tetanus is rare disease, we rarely suppose tetanus infection to be a cause of a trismus. Especially it is more difficult to diagnose in patient who has head trauma, burn and neurologic problem as in this case.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.361-365
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• 2018

Background: Recently, we examined the effects of 2% lidocaine gel on the tactile sensory and pain thresholds of the face, tongue and hands of symptom-free individuals using quantitative sensory testing (QST); its effect was less on the skin of the face and hands than on the tongue. Consequently, instead of 2% lidocaine gel, we examined the effect of 8% lidocaine spray on the tactile sensory and pain thresholds of the skin of the face and hands of healthy volunteers. Methods: Using Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments, QST of the skin of the cheek and palm (thenar skin) was performed in 20 healthy volunteers. In each participant, two topical sprays were applied. On one side, 0.2 mL of 8% lidocaine pump spray was applied, and on the other side, 0.2 mL of saline pump spray was applied as control. In each participant, QST was performed before and 15 min after each application. Pain intensity was measured using a numeric rating scale (NRS). Results: Both the tactile detection threshold and filament-prick pain detection threshold of the cheek and thenar skin increased significantly after lidocaine application. A significant difference between the effect of lidocaine and saline applications was found on the filament-prick pain detection threshold only. NRS of the cheek skin and thenar skin decreased after application of lidocaine, and not after application of saline. Conclusion: The significant effect of applying an 8% lidocaine spray on the sensory and pain thresholds of the skin of the face and hands can be objectively scored using QST.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.810-822
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• 2024

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Korean medicine treatments in alleviating symptoms of dry mouth, with a specific focus on Yin deficiency. Methods: A 50-year-old female patient diagnosed with xerostomia was treated using Korean medicines, aimed at addressing Yin deficiency. The assessment included both subjective and objective measures. For subjective measures, we used the Yin Deficiency Questionnaire (YDQ) to diagnose and assess the Yin deficiency symptoms and the Dry Mouth Symptom Questionnaire (DMSQ) to evaluate the severity and frequency of dry mouth symptoms. For objective measures, we used the Oral Moisture Checking Device (Mucus®) to measure oral moisture levels. Additionally, we measured the heart rate variability (HRV) to assess the autonomic nervous system, focusing on indicators related to the parasympathetic nervous system. Results: We observed improvements in the patient's symptoms. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores improved for all questions on both DMSQ and YDQ questionnaires. Additionally, the measurements taken with Mucus increased, and the HRV test indicators related to the parasympathetic nervous system showed improvement. Conclusion: Korean medicine treatment could be an effective and quick method for treating dry mouth symptoms.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.61-66
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• 2002

Purpose : To determine wether varicella can be prevented by administration of oral acyclovir(ACV) during the incubation period of the disease. Methods : Starting 9 days after exposure to the index case in their families, ACV(40 mg/kg/day in four divided doses) was given orally to 20 exposed children for 5 days. Their clinical features was compared with those of 20 control subjects. Antibody titers to VZV were measured in both group 1 week and 4 weeks after finishing the oral ACV administration. Results : The mean age of family members with varicella(51.4 months) were significantly high compared to that of ACV prophylaxis group(28.5 months) and control group(31 months) (P<0.05). Among the 12 children with ACV prophylaxis who completed follow up blood sampling, nine children were diagnosed as VZV infection on the serologic test(75%). Among them six children showed positive VZV IgM on the first blood sample and two children showed serocoversion to positive IgM on the second test after ACV prophylaxis. One child who was negative on both IgM and IgG, showed positive IgG on the second test. The incidence of fever and severity of skin rashes were significantly low in children received oral ACV than in the control group. No or reduced number of maculopapular eruption were observed in the oral ACV group compared to multiple vesicles of the control group. Conclusion : In the present study, we observed that oral ACV prophylaxis to the family contacts is effective in reducing severity of skin lesion. It is likely that oral ACV 9 days after contact prevents or reduces blood dissemination of VZV. Little is known about clinical effect and immunity to the virus in exposed children with no varicella symptom after treatment. We propose the checking up antibody to VZV some period after oral ACV, and considering vaccination to whom with no antibody. But further more studies are needed to practical application of oral ACV for the postexposure prophylaxis of varicella.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.83-91
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• 2010

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the characteristics of temporomandibular disorder (TMD) symptoms and to determine the correspondence between TMD symptoms and clinical examination findings. Material and methods: A total of 218 patients (143 females and 75 males; age=$31.3{\pm}14.0$) were enrolled in this study who completed a questionnaire and underwent a clinical examination and radiographic assessment. Patients were asked about all the symptoms and complaints, including onset or duration, and locations of the symptoms. Clinical examination included amounts of mouth opening, palpable temporomandibular joint (TMJ) sounds, and tenderness to palpation of the TMJ and all masticatory muscles. Tenderness scores obtained from palpation of the masticatory system were summated to define the variables for further analysis. Results: Pain was the most frequently reported symptom (78.9%), followed by joint sounds (45.4%), and limitation in mouth opening (17.0%). Jaw pain comprised 91.9% of pain complaints. The subjective intensity of jaw pain was low to medium in most patients (93.7%), but it was poorly correlated with the sum of tenderness scores of the TMJ and masticatory muscles (Kendall tau = 0.084). In contrast, the side in which pain was reported by patients was well associated with the clinical examination results (pain of the right side, p < 0.001, and left side, p < 0.001). There was moderate agreement in TMJ sounds between the side identified by patients as symptomatic and clinical examination findings (kappa = 0.482). Finally, patients who complained of restricted mouth opening showed about a 10 mm less opening in all three measurements, compared to other patients (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The most frequent symptoms reported by TMD patients were jaw pain, TMJ sounds, and mouth opening limitation. The side of jaw pain, the side of TMJ sounds, and the presence of opening limitation were highly concordant between symptom reports and examination findings.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.137-145
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• 2013

Biological activities of wax gourd (Benincase hispida) extract and lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobacterium bifidum) were investigated in this study. Wax gourd extract reduced the activity of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) by 47.9%, of tyrosinase by 13.2%, and had an anti-oxidant activity of 23.4%. Oral administration of wax gourd extract for 72 hours improved the symptom of loose bowels for 120 patients with its highest improvement rates within 6 to 12 hours. The improvement rates were standardized by the curative state by 80%. Lactic acid bacteria preparations reduced the activity of ACE by 21.49%. Oral administration of lactic acid bacteria preparations for 72 hours improved the symptom of loose bowels for 108 patients with its highest improvement rates after 24 hours. On the basis of these results, the tablets containing both wax gourd extract and lactic acid bacteria preparations for the improvement of irritable bowel syndromes were developed. The tablets reduced the activity of ACE by 27.1% and exhibited an anti-oxidant activity of 20.3%. Treatment of the tablets at 100 ${\mu}g/m{\ell}$ and 250 ${\mu}g/m{\ell}$ for 24 hours inhibited the growth of A549 human lung cancer cells by 67%, which was much higher than that of each wax gourd extract or lactic acid bacteria. In addition, treatment of the tablets at 100 ${\mu}g/m{\ell}$ for 24 hours reduced the growth of HCT-116 human colon cancer cells by 70%. Oral administration of the tablets to the patients with loose bowels led to higher improvement rates and speed than each wax gourd extract or lactic acid bacteria. Oral administration of the tablets to the patients with irritable bowel syndromes of loose bowels, constipation, or general type for 72 hours improved their symptoms by 100% with the highest improvement rates within 3 to 6 hours. Furthermore, the improvement rates and speed by the tablets was much higher than each wax gourd extract or lactic acid bacteria.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.233-242
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• 2012

The purposes of this study were to compare psychological profiles, to investigate the differences in the clinical characteristics, and to compare treatment outcomes between myogenous pain and arthrogenous pain subgroups of temporomandibular disorder (TMD) based on Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular disorders (RDC/TMD). Two hundred and fifty two patients diagnosed as TMD were divided into three groups based on the RDC/TMD axis I diagnostic guidelines; myogenous pain group, arthrogenous pain group, and mixed pain (both myogenous pain and arthrogenous pain) group. RDC/TMD history questionnaire was administered to each patient and depression, somatization, jaw disability, pain intensity, disability days, and graded chronic pain scale were analyzed. Bruxism, clenching, insomnia, headache, and unilateral chewing were assessed in a standardized TMD dysfunction questionnaire and the duration of onset, chronicity of pain, treatment period, the effectiveness of the treatment, and improvement of symptoms also analyzed. Myogenous pain group had higher depression (p=0.002), and somatization scales (p<0.001) than the arthrogenous pain group. Mixed pain group showed higher pain intensity (p=0.008), disability days (p<0.001), graded chronic pain scale (p=0.005), somatization (p<0.001), and depression scores (p=0.002) than the arthrogenous pain group. Jaw disability did not show any significant differences among the three groups (p=0.058). Arthrogenous pain group reported more limitation of mouth opening than myogenous pain group (p=0.007). Duration of onset showed that the arthrogenous pain group had lowest prevalence of chronicity among three groups (p=0.002). Mixed pain group patients showed lowest symptom improvements among three groups (p=0.007). Multiple linear regression analysis results showed that the treatment effectiveness was significantly associated with somatization score (${\beta}$=-0.251, p=0.03).