Derek Richards

Profile photo of Derek Richards
Derek Richards is a specialist in dental public health, Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Dentistry and Specialist Advisor to the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) Development Team. A former editor of the Evidence-Based Dentistry Journal and chief blogger for the Dental Elf website until December 2023. Derek has been involved with a wide range of evidence-based initiatives both nationally and internationally since 1994. Derek retired from the NHS in 2019 remaining as a part-time senior lecturer at Dundee Dental School until the end of 2023.

Website

Follow me here –

Arthrocentesis or conservative management for painful temporomandibular disorders

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_128569418

This review of temporomandibular joint arthrocentesis versus conservative management for painful temporomandibular disorders (TMD) includes 7 RCTs. The findings suggest improvements in both pain and maximum mouth opening with arthrocentesis but these may not be clinically important.

[read the full story...]

Probiotics for the management of oral halitosis

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_87714310

This review of the efficacy of probiotics in reducing halitosis of dental origin, when compared to a placebo intervention included 8 RCTs. Only one of the study was considered to be at low risk of bias with the authos assessing the evidence as not suggestive of a convincing benefit for the use of probiotics for treatment outcomes of halitosis.

[read the full story...]

Effects of occlusal splint guidance on treatment for bruxism and temporomandibular disorders

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
splint

This review assessing the effect of disocclusion guidance on occlusal splints for sleep bruxism (SB) and temporomandibular disorders (TMD) included 15 studies. The included studies provided very low certainty evidence for most of the evaluated outcomes.

[read the full story...]

Direct restorative materials for treating cavitated carious lesions

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
Dental_Restoration

This review of different direct restorative materials for treating cavitated caries lesions on anterior and posterior primary and permanent teeth included 38 RCTs. None of the included studies was at low risk of bias and the findings suggest that the effectiveness of each included direct restorative material varied across outcomes. There was also limited evidence to support clinically important differences between the direct restorative materials assessed.

[read the full story...]

E- cigarette use worldwide

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
CDC_electronic_cigarettes_October_2015_(cropped)

This review assessing the epidemiological profile of e-cigarette users worldwide included 43 studies from 28 countries. A majority (60% of studies were considered to be at low risk of bias. The findings provide prevalence estimates and suggest that the highest proportion of e-cigarette users was in the 18- to 24 age group.

[read the full story...]

Mandibular implant-supported overdentures–attachment systems

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
Overdenture - ball attachments

This review of the effectiveness of different attachment systems for complete edentulous mandibular Implant-supported overdentures included 25 RCTs . The findings suggest no significant differences between attachment systems.

[read the full story...]

Self-applied dentifrices for managing dentine hypersensitivity

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
Scanning_electron_micrograph_of_dentin_with_open_dentinal_tubules

This review and network meta-analyses of the effectiveness of self-applied dentifrices in the management of dentine hypersensitivity included 68 studies. Findings indicated that formulations including stannous, potassium +/- stannous, and arginine result in significant short ( 2-weeks) and long term inprovements. However the studies were hetrogeneous and only 4 were at low risk of bias.

[read the full story...]

Periodontitis – Global prevalence 2011-2022

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
plaque,calculus,periodontal disease

This review to estimate the prevalence of periodontitis between 2011 and 2020 from epidemiological data included 55 studies. From 32 studies with confident case definition an estimate of periodontitis prevalence = 61.6% (95%CI; 55.1% to 67.9%) and a estimate of severe periodontitis = 23.6% (95%CI;17.6% to 30.1%).

[read the full story...]

Canine retraction duration using fixed appliances

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_180420626

This review of canine retraction after maxillary first premolar extraction in adolescent and adult orthodontic patients using fixed appliances included 50 RCTs. However only a small number of studies contributed to the estimate of 4.98 months (95%CI; 2.92 to 12.88 months) to complete canine retraction.

[read the full story...]

Locking taper dental implant – abutment connections

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_134927186

This review of the clinical performance and complications of single crowns retained by the locking taper system included 12 studies. The findings indicate that the locking taper system had similar performance to the conventional Morse taper system although none of teh studies included direct comparisons.

[read the full story...]