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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Photodynamic therapy in primary teeth root canal therapy?

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This review of the efficacy of adjunctive photodynamic therapy (PDT) on root canal treatment in primary teeth included 4 studies. The included studies were small and of short duration and lacked clinically relevant outcomes. Larger high quality well conducted studies with follow up periods of at least 12 months are needed to assess the role of PDT in primary teeth.

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Pulpotomy in permanent teeth with bioactive materials

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This review evaluating the evaluate the success rate of pulpotomies on permanent teeth using ProRoot MTA, compared to calcium hydroxide or other bioceramic cements included 16 RCTs. The findings suggest better outcomes with MTA than calcium hydroxide. However 10 of the studies were at high risk of bias and the overall certainty of evidence was assessed as low.

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Helmet use and maxillofacial injuries due to bicycle and scooter accidents

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This review of the effect of helmet use on the incidence of maxillofacial injuries due to cycling, e-bike, scooter, and e- scooter accidents included 14 studies. The findings suggest a significant reduction in the risk of maxillofacial injury with helmet use Odds ratio = 0.682 (95%CI; 0.565 to 0.822). Although all but 2 of the studies were retrospective and only 5 studies were considered to be of high quality .

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Non‐surgical procedures to accelerate orthodontic tooth movement

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This Cochrane review update was to assess the effect of non‐surgical adjunctive interventions on the rate of orthodontic tooth movement and the overall duration of treatment included 23 RCTs.The findings suggest there may be limited benefit from photobiomodulation application for accelerating discrete treatment phases but this should be interpreted very cautiously as the findings may not be clinically important and the evidence is of low to very low certainty.

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Orthodontically induced external apical root resorption

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This review comparing orthodontically induced external apical root resorption (EARR) in root-filled teeth and vital pulp teeth included 11 mainly retrospective studies . The findings suggest less EARR in root-filled teeth but the evidence is of very low certainty.

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Vitamin D and periodontitis

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This review compared vitamin D levels in individuals with or without periodontitis, and the effects of scaling and root planing (SRP) +vitamin D on periodontal clinical parameters in patients with periodontitis. The findings suggest a possible benefit but the quality of evidence means the findings should be interpreted very cautiously.

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Malocclusion and quality of life

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This review of the effect of malocclusion on oral health-related quality of life in adolescents includes 13 cross-sectional studies. The findings suggest that that malocclusions in adolescents have a negative impact on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL).

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Root caries – effect of domiciliary professional oral care

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This review of domiciliary professional oral care on root caries development and progression in care-dependent older adults included 4 RCTs. While all the included studies indicated a benefit the interventions and outcomes were veriable and none were considered to be at low risk of bias.

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Smoking and the incidence of peri-implantitis

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This review of the influence of smoking on the incidence of peri-implantitis included 6 prospective cohort studies involving a total of 762 patients. The findings suggest an increased patient-level risk of peri-implantitis in smokers risk ratio = 2.08 (95%CI; 1.17 to 3.71.

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