Worldental Daily Bangkok 2015, 23 September

News Wednesday, 23 September 2015 4 www.fdiworldental.org Thereisalonghistorythatledtothe OPPERA project. It has been a 20-year process. We conducted a series of preliminary studies before the actual OPPERA study started. For the last ten years, we have been funded by the National Institutes of Health under the name of OPPERA. The OPPERA study is a prospective cohort study, to which we recruited nearly 4,000 individuals, of whom 3,000 were free of the index conditionofinterest,TMD.Wefollowed them for about three to four years. On entry into the protocol, they were assessed in terms of biological func- tion and pain processing, and we also looked at their psychological profiles. Thus, we obtained a very detailed biopsychosocial profile. We also took a biological sample to examine the geneticsofthepopulation.Wethenfol- lowed them from this baseline. Every three months, we followed up with a questionnaire related to whether they had developed a condition like TMD. Iftheyappearedtohavedevelopedthe condition, they were brought back into the clinic and then assessed to see if they met the clinical criteria for TMD. This way, we were able to determine from these baseline variables which specific psychological variables and pain-processing variables predicted whowasgoingtodevelopTMD,aswell as chronic TMD. We made several fun- damental discoveries and have been able to identify certain risk determi- nantsleadingtoboththeonsetandthe chronicity of TMD. We have identified thatcertaintypesofpsychologicalvari- ables and pain-processing variables are highly predictive of TMD. There are two variables to be highlighted here. Thefirstissomaticawareness:individ- uals who have a high sensory capacity of their environment are more likely to developTMD and to be chronicTMD patients six months to one year out. The second variable is individuals who show high sensitivity in the muscle. They are also more likely to develop TMDandpresentwithchronicTMD. One of the main outcomes of OPPERA is that it demonstrated that conditions like TMD are not isolated orofacialpainconditions.Theyarehigh- ly co-prevalent with other chronic pain conditions, such as fibromyalgia, irri- table bowel syndrome and chronic fa- tigue. Thus, they require very complex management to treat them effectively, notonlybydentalpractitionersbutalso by other specialists. So primarily, with the discoveries that we have made in the OPPERA project, I think we will be abletodevelopnewtherapiesandtreat- mentpossibilitiesforTMDpatients. Thank you very much for this interview. page 2 A lmost entirely forgotten by themedia,Nepalisstilldeal- ing with the effects of the earthquakethatstruckthecountry in March. According to dentist Dr SushilKoiralafromKathmandu,to whom Worldental Daily had the opportunity to talk yesterday here at the FDI 2015 AWDC in Bangkok, the disaster has had devastating effects on the country’s economy, in- cludingtheprovisionofdentalcare. Particularly poor off are most rural areas, where even the bare necessities are difficult to access. Initiated in re- sponse to the disaster, Koirala’s charity, DentalCommunityforHumanity,initially sought to provide help for 800 families bybuildinganewschool.Inaddition,the network is intended to provide a plat- form for dental professionals in the re- gion to connect and share charity work andsocialprojects. “Natural disasters can happen any- whereandweasdentistsareinaunique positionnotonlytohelpwithmoneybut also with our skills and dedication to thehumancause,”Koiralaexplained. Initial response to his efforts has beenexcellent,withdonationsandsup- portprovidedbyanumberofindividuals and institutions throughout the region, including the Philippine Academy of Esthetic Dentistry and dental manufac- turerSHOFU. Attendees of the AWDC who are in- terested in learning more about the DentalCommunityforHumanityproject orwouldliketoknowmoreabouthowto contribute can obtain more information onlineonFacebook(www.facebook.com/ groups/919880638032310). Koirala will also be holding a lecture at 4 p.m. todayaspartoftheDentalTribuneStudy Club symposium at Booth B77 in the exhibitionhall. Collaboration opportunity Nepal charity seeks to initiate partnership with dentists in Asia IDrKoirala(right)intalkswithWorldentalDaily. AD

Worldental Daily Bangkok 2015, 23 September

Pages Overview