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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Local anaesthetic for dental treatment: interventions to improve acceptance in children

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Twenty six RCTs were included in this Cochrane systematic review of methods for the acceptance of local anaesthesia (LA) in children and adolescents during dental treatment. However the trials did not provide sufficient evidence to draw firm conclusions as to the best interventions

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Caries prevalence in preterm and low birth weight children

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This review of the prevalence of dental caries in preschool children born preterm and/or with a low birth weight included 59 observational studies suggesting caries prevelence was similar to full term children of normal weight. However, the certainty of teh evidence was very low.

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FiCTION Trial: the cost effectiveness of dental caries management in primary teeth

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Money

THe FiCTION trial examied 3 strategies for the management of dental caries in primary teeth of children aged 3 to 7yrs in the UK This summarises the detailed cost-effectiveness element of that mult-centre RCT in primary care.

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Probiotics for the treatment of gingivitis

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This review of the the efficacy of probiotics in the treatment of gingivitis included 10 small short term studies providing limited weak evidence for any effect on gingivitis.

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Drug use and oral health status

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Very few studies in this review, measured or adjusted for use of other substances such as cannabis.

This review investigating the relationship between drug use (methamphetamines, heroin, opiates, cocaine, cannabis and crack) and oral health includes 10 observational studies showing a higher risk of caries.

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Dentofacial deformity: the effect of combined orthodontic-surgical treatment on oral health–related quality of life

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This review of the impact of conventional combined orthodontic-surgical treatment (COST) and the surgery-first approach on oral health–related quality of life (OHRQoL)included 24 prospective studies showing an inital decrease tfollowed by an improvement in OHRQoL

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Overdentures: The effect of attachment systems on clinical performance

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Overdenture - ball attachments

This review of the behaviour of overdentures supported by bar and clip or ball and O-ring attachments included 17 studies. The findings suggest no differences between the two sustems.

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Chlorhexidine gel as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal treatment

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This review of the efficacy of adjunctive subgingival administration of chlorhexidine gel in nonsurgical periodontal treatment for chronic periodontitis included 17 RCTs only one of which was at low risk of bias for all domains. Findings suggest an improvement in pocket probing depth but not for clinical attachment.

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Post-endodontic pain: Is it influenced by concentration of sodium hypochlorite irrigation?

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This large RCT involving 308 patients found that using 1.3% NaOCl was associated with less intense and less frequent post-endodontic pain than 5.25% NaOCl in mandibular molars with nonvital pulps treated in two visits.

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Dry mouth: Are oral health programmes for community dwelling elderly beneficial?

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Older people with learning disabilities need opportunities to speak for themselves

This review of whether oral health promotion programmes for community‐dwelling elderly were effective in improving oral health and oral saliva secretion or in decreasing dry mouth included 9 studies most of which came from a single country

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