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 –

Deep caries management for immature permanent teeth

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_95774107

This review of techniques and materials used for the management of deep caries in immature permanent teeth included 12 RCT papers. The findings suggest high success rates for pulpotomy, but only a small number of papers were available for other techniques.

[read the full story...]

mHealth promotion for parents to improve children’s oral health

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
daniel-korpai-Y3LGWCsrgmg-unsplash

This review of the effectiveness of the mHealth-delivered oral health education to parents parents regarding the improvement of parents’ knowledge, behaviours and children’s oral health status included 12 studies. The studies findings were variable with some demonstrating benefit and some no benefit with all 8 of the included RCTs being at high risk of bias.

[read the full story...]

School dental screening for oral health

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
cdc-GDokEYnOfnE-unsplash

This Cochrane review update assessing the effectiveness of school dental screening programmes on overall oral health status and use of dental services included 8 RCTs. There was not enough evidence to draw conclusions about whether traditional school dental screening can improve childrens dental attendance or lead to better oral health.

[read the full story...]

Prevalence of different orthodontic malocclusions

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_5340562

This review the prevalence of malocclusions and different orthodontic features in children and adolescents included 123 studies. However the broad range of approaches used in the studies to determine malocclusion and orthodontic features means that the findings need to be interpreted cautiously.

[read the full story...]

Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ): Prevention and treatment

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
osteonecrosis

This Cochrane review update of interventions for the prevention or treatment of medication-relatesd osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) included 13 RCTs. However the studies provided insufficient to either claim or refute a benefit of the interventions tested for prophylaxis or treatment of MRONJ.

[read the full story...]

Single implant restorations – Immediate v non-immediate loading

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_112057412

This review of clinical outcomes for immediate and non-immediate (early or conventional) loading in single-implant restorations included 10 RCTs. All the included studies had follow up periods of 2 years or more although the number of implant failures was very low overall (11 out of 522) in both goups.

[read the full story...]

Nicotine replacement therapy – oral side effects

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
For inpatients with psychiatric symptoms of moderate severity, the study suggests those using nicotine inhalers were most successful overall in their quit attempts. There were no severe adverse reactions to the NRTs.

This review of the evidence on possible association between locally delivered nicotine replacement therapy(NRT) and oral side effects included 28 RCTs. Most of the RCTs were at high risk of bias mainly because of allocation concealment concerns. Reported oral side effects including oral soreness, gastric reflux or vomiting, and mouth or throat irritation.

[read the full story...]

CAD-CAM removable complete dentures

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_13679275

This review comparing the outcomes of , CAD-CAM removable complete dentures (CDs) with conventional CDs included 73 studies. A majority of the studies were in-vitro small, and involved multiple comparison. 39 studies contributed to meta-analyses of a broad range of parameters whiich suggest little technical difference between CAD-CAM and conventional CDs. However few studies reported on aesthetics or patient reported outcomes.

[read the full story...]

Tooth extraction prior to head and neck radiotherapy and osteoradionecrosis risk

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_84141019

28 mainly retrospective studies were included in this review which aimed to determine if tooth extraction prior to head and neck radiotherapy (RT )is associated with a reduced risk of developing osteoradionectosis (ORN). The findings showed a significant association of post-RT dental extractions with the risk of ORN development, odds ratio = 1.98 (95%CI: 1.17 to 3.35. However the certainty of the evidence was low to moderate.

[read the full story...]

Caries in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_ADHD child

This review of whether children and adolescents with attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) had more dental caries than children and adolescents without ADHD included 13 observational studies. The findings suggest a higher risk of caries in children with ADHD Odds ratio = 3.31(95%CI; 1.25 to 8.73) and a significantly higher DMFT index Mean difference = 0.75 (0.38 to 1.13). However because of heterogeneity in the included study designs and a lack of adjustments for confounding factors the findings should be interpreted cautiously.

[read the full story...]