Presurgical orthodontic treatment may be hampered by anomalous anatomic relations, function and dento-alveolar compensation. A stabilizing, solid postsurgical occlusion requires presurgical dento-alveolar decompensation. Some sagittal overcorrection simplifies postsurgical orthodontic treatment. In distorelations, a diastema created between maxillary lateral incisors and cuspids may be helpful in this respect. The diastema is providing space for overcorrection and consequently the postsurgical orthodontic treatment can be simplified. In mesiorelations, creating additional space is not required because premature frontal contact is not a disturbing factor. Conversely, in short face patients frontal contact is just useful for gaining facial height.

An 18-year-old Dutch man presented himself at the emergency department of a hospital, with a spontaneously arisen unilateral swelling at the mandibular angle during occlusion. No additional complaints were present and the patient had no previous experience of such swelling. After an assessment of the patient’s history and diagnostic procedures, the swelling was diagnosed as a partial rupture of the masseter muscle fascia. On the basis hereof, a conservative approach was selected, and the swelling subsequently disappeared.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors block the uptake of serotonin into thrombocytes. One of the functions of serotonin in thrombocytes is to promote platelet aggregation. When serotonin levels are depleted after several weeks of treatment, the altered platelet function leads to increased risk of abnormal bleeding. In patients taking a combination of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, the risk of abnormal bleeding is thought to be even higher. A case is reported of abnormal bleeding after treatment in the oral cavity, associated with simultaneous use of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. A large haematoma in the floor of mouth caused airway compromise which necessitated an emergency tracheotomy. Until greater insight is achieved by means of additional research, increased attentiveness for these patients seems to be called for and extra care should be employed. Additional haemostatic measures could be considered.

Fear of dental treatment sometimes already begins during childhood. Different kinds of diagnostic instruments can measure children’s dental anxiety. In this study the reliability and convergent validity of 7 instruments are compared. Results show that there is no ‘gold standard’ with which convergent validity can be established unambiguously. Furthermore, self report measures are investigated more often than observational measures even though the latter are more commonly used. Generally, the compared measures are satisfactory in respect to their reliability. Nevertheless, sufficient interest coherence is sometimes lacking. This could be explained by the multidimensional character of the construct ‘fear’ and, in some cases, the type of measuringmethod. In almost none of the compared studies were norms defined prior to the study by means of which statistical indicators could be unambiguously interpreted. In the present study, such norms were established.

Care-dependent people may experience problems with their dentures for which treatment with an implant-supported denture is an effective option. Furthermore, patients treated with an implant-supported denture previously, may have become dependent on care, with the result that their daily oral self-care becomes problematic. These conditions demand an individual approach. In the process of deciding about treatment, the dentist has to ask himself 6 questions. The questions have to do with the benefits and effectiveness of any treatment, the individual oral healthcare programme, the cooperative abilities of the patient, the availability of voluntary and/or professional care providers, and the accessibility of good and quick professional oral healthcare service. Depending on the outcome of these considerations, the treatment may be either removing the superstructure and ‘burying’ the implants, improving an existing implant-supported denture or inserting implants and fabricating a new implant-supported denture.