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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MRONJ: Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw management strategies

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15 systematic reviews were included in this review of teh treament and management of medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ). The reviews only identified weak evidence to support treatment protocols for MRONJ so high quality well reported RCTs are needed.

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Occlusal splints for the management of temporomandibular disorders

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This network meta-analysis assessing the effectiveness of various types of occlusal splint in the management of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) included 48 RCTs suggesting that a hard stabilisation splint achieves superior results in patients with myogenous TMDs. However, many of the included studies are small so teh quality of the evidence is low.

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Complete dentures how long do they last?

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This review of the longevity of complete dentures included 42 studies (22 cross-sectional ,22 cohort studies) mainly conducted in a university setting with the findings suggesting a longevity of 10.1 ±4.0 years.

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Propolis-based mouthwashes

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This review evaluating the evidence regarding the efficacy of propolis-based mouthwash on dental plaque and gingival inflammation included 9 RCTs. While the findings suggest potential benefit from propolis-based mouthwash the quality of the available evidence is very low and additional high quality studies are needed to assess any benefits.

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Chronic periodontitis: pocket elimination after osseous resective surgery

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4 RCTs involving 96 patients were included in this review of osseous resective surgery (ORS) in the treatment of residual periodontal defects.
The findings suggest some benefit from ORS but they should be interpreted cautiously because of the limited number of small studies.

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Antiseptics as adjuncts to nonsurgical periodontal treatment

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This review of the effectiveness of adjunctive local antiseptics to conventional scaling and root planning (SRP) included 12 RCTs only 3 of whihc were considered to be at low risk of bias. While the findings suggest some benefit from the use of antiseptics with a sustained-release delivery the limited quality of the included studies means that the findings should be interpreted cautiously.

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Promoting parental supervised toothbrushing practices

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This review of interventions promoting parental supervised toothbrushing practices to reduce caries in children under 8 years included 42 studies. Few of the interventions were underpinned by theory and methodological rigour in their development and evaluation so future interventions need to be guided by complex intervention methodology.

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Developmental enamel defects – are they related to preterm birth?

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This review of the possible association between preterm birth and developmental defects of enamel (DDE) included 20 observational studies and suggest an increased risk of DDE in preterm children.

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Dental erosion in adolescents

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This review of the effects of dietary acids and habits on dental erosion in the permanent dentition of 10- to 19-year-old adolescents included 52 observational studies. While the findings suggest some risk factors may contribute to dental erosion more high quality prospective studies are needed.

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