Oral Health and Clinical Dentistry: Advances and Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

The dental care field has changed radically in recent years, as has the rest of the healthcare world. Therefore, safety measures and technology were implemented in a short time and with great effort to provide more protection for the operator and the patient, with inevitable changes such as digitization or the introduction of new materials that were accelerated by the pandemic. All procedures must be effective and safe, especially for patients who are considered phenotypically and/or genetically "fragile".

Frailty, which is a geriatric syndrome that affects 5% to 17% of older adults, is a state of increased vulnerability across multiple health domains that leads to adverse health outcomes. Frail older adults are at an increased risk of falls, disability, hospitalizations and death. Frailty may initially be overlooked or incorrectly identified as part of the normal aging process because of the variable nature of its presentation and diagnosis. The symptoms include generalized weakness, exhaustion, slow gait, poor balance, decreased physical activity, cognitive impairment and weight loss. There is no current recommendation for routine screening. A comprehensive geriatric assessment can identify the risk factors and symptoms that suggest frailty. Several validated frailty assessment tools can evaluate a patient for frailty. Patients are diagnosed as not-frail, prefrail or frail. Patients with a larger number of frail attributes are at higher risk of poor outcomes. The management of frail patients must be individualized and tailored to each patient's goals of care and life expectancy. Physical activity and balance exercises may be suitable for patients who are less frail. Palliative care and symptom control may be appropriate for those who are more frail.

Oral health has assumed key importance in relation to public health and correlations with systemic diseases.

All of this has been accompanied by significant technological developments that have allowed for shorter timelines, reduced discomfort and improved quality of care, including minimally invasive care reserved for patients.

Therefore, this Special Issue aims to gather news regarding dental techniques (in all areas), the care of systemic patients, and the importance of prevention and oral hygiene to ensure quality and outcome, whereby the outcome is understood as success in the dental treatments performed, which, especially in prosthetic rehabilitations, is ensured by periodic checkups and oral hygiene maintenance sessions.

We look forward to receiving your submissions to this Special Issue.

Dr. Elisabetta Maria Polizzi
Guest Editor

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• oral health
• prevention
• oral hygiene
• minimally invasive dental care
• parodontal disease
• systemic patients
• oral disease