ORAL PATHOLOGY- PARAMOLAR

DEVELOPMENTAL ANOMALY- SUPERNUMERARY TOOTH

Paramolars are developmental anomalies in the number of teeth. They presesnt as an extra tooth that resembles a rudimentary molar. 

Site: most common in maxillary arch, in relation to the buccal and less often palatal aspect of the molars. 

Symptoms: Mostly asymptomatic , unless soft tissue infringement occurs. 

Clinical significance : may cause displacement of neighbouring teeth or cause mucositis. 

In view of the current emphasis on  the role of chronic inflamation in carcinogenesis mucositis associated with the paramolar may be considered to increase malignant transformation risk in patients with high risk habits (smoking, tobacco, paan, or areca nut chewing). 

Advised treatment - extraction

RESEARCH PLANNING-“ADJACENT POSSIBLE” INTEGRAL TOOL IN THE SEARCH FOR A RESEARCH TOPIC

“But madam I haven’t a clue where to begin looking for the topic” was the bewildered query of most new entries to the postgraduate course in my department. While at the time I did not have a well-phrased way of telling them what to do, I used to describe the steps, which I accept were not novel, and possibly followed by most guides and mentors.

The process as I used to explain involved looking for an area or field of study that was of interest to the student and then reading as many literature reviews as possible to find, and understand the current knowledge and the gaps. Then progressively narrowing down to the most recent findings on a topic and then applying a different/advanced technique, a larger or different sample,  different criteria or different study type to the same problem /query.

This system of moving from known to peripheral unknowns worked. Now I realize it is a well-recognized concept termed as “Adjacent Possible” in innovative thinking that was popularized by Steven Johnson in an essay called "The Genius of the Tinkerer" .

In case you are looking for that, a spark of intuition, for a research topic and it doesn’t happen to take heart and look closely at what is already known, chances are your answer is closer than you think.