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[en] Objective: To evaluate the effect of home-use bleaching agent containing 16 percentage Carbamide Peroxide (CP) and in-office bleaching agent containing 38 percentage Hydrogen Peroxide (HP) on enamel micro-hardness. Study Design: An in vitro experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Operative Dentistry and Science of Dental Materials at Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, Dow University of Health Sciences and Material Engineering Department of NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, from July to December 2014. Methodology: A total of 90 enamel slabs from 45 sound human 3rd molar were randomly divided into 3 groups. Each group contained 30 specimens (n=30). Group 1 was kept in artificial saliva at 37 Degree C in incubator during the whole experiment. However, Groups 2 and 3 were treated with power whitening gel and tooth whitening pen respectively. After bleaching session, specimens were thoroughly rinsed with deionized water again for 10 seconds and then stored in artificial saliva at 37 Degree C in incubator. Artificial saliva was changed after every 2 days. The Vickers hardness tester (Wolpert 402 MVD, Germany) was adjusted to a load of 0.1 kg (100 gm) and dwell time of 5 seconds. Three Vickers were performed on each specimen using a hardness tester according to the ISO 6507-3:1998 specification. Micro-hardness measurements were performed before and after bleaching at day 1, 7 and 14. Results: In the control group, the baseline micro-hardness was 181.1 ± 9.3 which was reduced after the storage on day 1, 7 and 14 (p = 0.104). In Group 2, baseline micro-hardness was 180.4 ±10.1 which was reduced to 179.79 ± 10.0 units after day 1. Whereas, on day 7 and 14, the values of micro-hardness were 179.8 ±10 and 179.7 ±10.29, respectively (p=0.091). Furthermore, the baseline micro-hardness in Group 3 was 174.0 ±22.9 units which was reduced to 173 ± 23 on day 1, 170 ±30 on day 7 and 173 ± 23 on day 14 (p = 0.256). The statistically insignificant difference was found among micro-hardness values of different bleaching agents (p = 0.118). Conclusion: Bleaching with 38 percentage Hydrogen Peroxide (HP) and 16 percentage Carbamide Peroxide (CP) resulted in insignificant effect on surface micro-hardness of enamel. (author)

[en] We present two rare lumbar lesions with similar MRI features: high signal on T1-weighted and proton density images and low signal on T2-weighted images; a melanotic schwannoma, and a giant-cell tumour-like lesion. Melanin in the first case and haemosiderin and metahaemoglobin in the second were responsible for the MRI characteristics. (orig.)