Objectives: Oral cancer is the sixth most common malignancy worldwide. Cancer development and progression requires inactivation of tumour suppressor genes and activation of proto-oncogenes. Expression of these genes is in part dependant on RNA and microRNA based mechanisms. MicroRNAs are essential regulators of diverse cellular processes including proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, survival, motility, invasion and morphogenesis. Several microRNAs have been found to be aberrantly expressed in various cancers including oral cancer. The purpose of this article was to review the literature related to microRNA deregulation in the head and neck/oral cavity cancers.

Material and Methods: A comprehensive review of the available literature from 2000 to 2011 relevant to microRNA deregulation in oral cancer was undertaken using PubMed, Medline, Scholar Google and Scopus. Keywords for the search were: microRNA and oral cancer, microRNA and squamous cell carcinoma, microRNA deregulation. Only full length articles in the English language were included. Strengths and limitations of each study are presented in this review.

Results: Several studies were identified that investigated microRNA alternations in the head and neck/oral cavity cancers. Significant progress has been made in identification of microRNA deregulation in these cancers. It has been evident that several microRNAs were found to be deregulated specifically in oral cavity cancers. Among these, several microRNAs have been functionally validated and their potential target genes have been identified.

Conclusions: These findings on microRNA deregulation in cancer further enhance our understanding of the disease progression, response to treatment and may assist with future development of targeted therapy.

Objectives: Cancer is the product of alterations in oncogenes, tumour suppressor genes and most recently microRNA genes not as a single event or single change but rather as a multistep process. The role of microRNA genes in carcinogenesis is recently explored and appears to be an early event in the pathogenesis of this as well as other disease processes and occurs via gene regulation by their own products, the microRNAs. The purpose of this article was to review the literature concerning MicroRNA proposed target genes in oral cancer.

Material and Methods: A review of the available literature from 2000 to 2011 regarding the potential roles assumed by microRNAs in oral cancer was undertaken using PubMed, Medline, Scholar Google and Scopus. Keywords for the search were: microRNA and oral cancer and target genes, microRNA deregulation and oral cancer, microRNA and carcinogenesis in the head and neck/oral cavity. English language full length articles were reviewed.

Results: Several microRNAs deregulated in oral cancer have been functionally validated and their exact target genes have been identified. Furthermore the carcinogenesis pathways impacted by these alterations has been proposed for some of these microRNAs.

Conclusions: The expanding knowledge of specific roles of certain microRNAs is further contributing to our understanding of the complexity of tumour progression and behaviour. Consideration of this information and incorporation into treatment modalities through targeted therapy could potentially enhance our abilities to improve outcome especially when other established therapies have failed.

Objectives: The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the effectiveness of cutting needle biopsy in the diagnosis of solid oral lesions.

Material and Methods: The biopsies were carried out on seven patients who presented with solid oral lesions with sizes ranging from 2 to 6 cm. Specimens were obtained from each lesion before conventional biopsies using a cutting needle with 18-gauge x 9 cm (MD TECH, Gainesville, FL, USA). A total of 64 specimens processed by hematoxylin-eosin staining method, were obtained. Afterwards, the analysis was performed by an oral pathologist, in two different stages, with and without the clinical history of each lesion. Then, these answers were compared with the final histological diagnosis.

Results: Results presented by the descriptive analysis showed that the correct diagnosis using cutting needle biopsy without the clinical history of lesions was registered in 37.5% of cases, while with the clinical history in 76.6%.

Conclusions: Despite the promising results as a potential technique for biopsies and histological diagnosis of oral lesions, the cutting needle biopsy should be analyzed carefully in those cases.

Background: Traditionally, maxillofacial deformities are corrected surgically after an initial orthodontic treatment phase. However in, this article, the authors emphasize the postsurgical therapeutic protocol which is extremely important for determining the final and permanent retention of the corrected occlusion.

Methods: A 55 year old female with severe skeletal Class II malocclusion is presented. Combined surgical and orthodontic correction of the malocclusion was used.

Results: The step-by-step procedure the authors followed for the postsurgical therapy is described. The goals of the postoperative therapy were to restore and rehabilitate neuromuscular function, obtain occlusal stabilization, grind teeth selectively, and final occlusion retention. The importance of a surgical occlusal splint for rehabilitating stomatognathic neuromuscular function postoperatively was demonstrated. Furthermore, the orthodontic-prosthodontic treatment ensured occlusion stability after the surgical correction. The long-term results confirmed the efficacy of the treatment protocol presented here from both functional and aesthetical perspectives.

Conclusions: Postsurgical orthodontic treatment is an important step in the surgical and orthodontic therapy of maxillofacial deformities.

Background: The purpose of this report is to present a rare entity of Parry-Romberg syndrome. This poorly understood degenerative condition is characterised by atrophic changes affecting one side of the face. The cause of these changes remains obscure.

Methods: The authors report one rare case of a 31 year old female patient with Parry-Romberg syndrome, accompanied by a brief review of literature.

Results: Clinical examination of the patient revealed evident facial asymmetry, malar hypoplasia, atrophy of skin and other tissues on the left side, hyperpigmentation of skin on the left side of the face. Final diagnosis of a Parry-Romberg syndrome ("progressive hemifacial atrophy") was based on thorough clinical and a radiological examination. Treatment using alloplastic implants to improve facial disfigurement was suggested to the patient.

Conclusions: In most cases, Parry-Romberg syndrome appears to occur randomly for unknown reasons. The pathophysiology of the syndrome remains unknown. There is no definitive treatment for this condition but an attempt to use restorative plastic surgery which includes fat or silicone implants, flap/pedicle grafts, or bone implants can be done to improve facial disfigurement.