Is reading for pleasure in childhood good for your health?

Although an association between reading for pleasure and healthy behaviours was identified, causation is still unclear.

Francesca Bentivegna summarises a recent study of the benefits of reading for pleasure in childhood, which finds an association 3 years later with consuming more fruit and being less exposed to both cigarette and alcohol use.

[read the full story...]

Improving language development: read, play, discuss

shutterstock_1077765305

Julia Badger critiques and summarises a recent randomised controlled trial testing the Let’s Talk intervention for improving children’s language development.

[read the full story...]

Drug use and oral health status

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.

[read the full story...]

Suicide clusters in young people: definition, epidemiology and prevention

federico-beccari-ahi73ZN5P0Y-unsplash

A group of UCL Mental Health Masters students summarise a recent literature review, which explores suicide clusters in young people (aged 25 or younger).

[read the full story...]

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

shutterstock_1033530

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

[read the full story...]

Overdentures: The effect of attachment systems on clinical performance

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.

[read the full story...]

Population-based approaches to improving mental health: a view from the USA

shutterstock_426728680

David Gunnell writes his debut elf blog on a recent review of population-based approaches to mental health. He calls for joined-up strategies across Government Departments to prevent mental illness and improve population mental health.

[read the full story...]

Chlorhexidine gel as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal treatment

shutterstock_138231533

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.

[read the full story...]

Suicidality in India: findings from a national cross sectional study

shutterstock_1308483901

In her debut blog, Dee Knipe summarises a national cross-sectional study recently published in The Lancet Psychiatry, which found that more than 44 million adults in India could experience suicidality.

[read the full story...]

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

shutterstock_140418271

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.

[read the full story...]