Derek Richards

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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.

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Class II restorations in primary molars

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This review comparing compare the success rate of five tooth-coloured materials for class II restorations in primary molars included 10 RCTs. No differences in failure rates were seen for composite resin,resin-modified glass ionomer cement or compomers although all included studies were at high risk of bias.

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Prevention toolkit from Public Health England

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An updated version of ‘Delivering Better Oral Health, ’ the oral health prevention toolkit published iby Public Health England to provide practical evidence-based guidance for promoting oral health and preventing oral disease is now available.

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Vital pulp therapy in permanent teeth

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This review aimed to evaluate the association of preoperative factors or intraoperative factors with treatment outcomes of vital pulp therapy. 14 RCTs were included with the findings indicating a 93.2% (95%CI; 91-6% to 94.9%) success rate using contemporary bioceramic material based on low certainty evidence.

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Face-bow transfer and prosthetic outcomes

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Facebow

This review of face‐bow transfer on the outcome of a dental prosthesis fabrication included 15 RCTs involving 406 patients. All but one study reported either no difference or better outcomes without the use of the face-bow.

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Peri-implantitis: Are locally administered antibiotics effective?

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This review of the effectiveness of locally administered antibiotics in the treatment of peri-implantitis included 12 small studies 7 of which were RCTs. While the findings suggest a small additional benefit with antibiotic use however the clinical importance of this is debatable.

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Alveolar osteitis: Are warm saline mouthwashes effective for prevention?

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Unequal measures

This review of the effectiveness of warm saltwater mouthwashes in preventing incidence of dry socket following tooth extraction included 8 RCTs. Only one of the included studies was considered to be at low risk of bias with the findings indicting that saltwater was more effective than no moutwash but less effective than chlorhexidine.

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Malocclusion and dental caries

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This review of malocclusion and the severity of dental caries among children and adolescents in the permanent dentition included 5 cross-sectional studies suggesting an association. However the quality of the evidence is limited so should be interpreted cautiously.

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Tooth loss in diabetic patients

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This review assessing the risk of losing teeth among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) compared to those without DM included 10 studies the majority of which were cross-sectional (80%). While the findings suggest higher risk of tooth loss in patients with diabetes the findings should be viewed cautiously.

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Diabetes and periodontal status in children and adolescents

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This review comparing the periodontal status of normal children with those living with diabetes regardless of type included 11 studies. While the findings suggest that children and adolescents with diabetes have poorer periodontal status the quality of the evidence is low.

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Flossing: Before or after brushing?

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This review comparing the clinical performance of flossing before or after toothbrushing included two small RCTs involving a total of 60 patients. The findings suggest no difference with the use of floss before or after toothbrushing however the quality of the evidence is limited.

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