Sealants or fluoride varnish for caries prevention?

Fissure sealant

This Cochrane review update included 8 trials involving 1746 participants. Some low-quality evidence suggesting the superiority of resin-based fissure sealants over fluoride varnish applications was identified

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Medication for cognitive impairment in traumatic brain injury: little evidence to support its use

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Eleanor Kennedy summarises a recent Cochrane review of pharmacotherapy for chronic cognitive impairment in traumatic brain injury, which finds insufficient evidence to support its use.

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Lithium for schizophrenia: Cochrane find lack of evidence to support its use

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Raphael Underwood presents a new Cochrane review of lithium for schizophrenia, which assesses the use of lithium as a monotherapy and also in combination with antipsychotics.

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Oral cryotherapy reduces oral mucositis in patients receiving 5FU-based treatment for solid cancers

ice

This Cochrane review looked at cryotherapy (ice chips) for preventing oral mucositis in patients with cancer. 14 RCTS involving 1280 patients were included providing evidence that oral cryotherapy leads to large reductions in oral mucositis of all severities in adults receiving 5FU for solid cancers. However there was less confidence confident in the ability of oral cryotherapy to reduce oral mucositis in adults receiving high-dose melphalan before haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).

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Preventing bleeding in patients with congenital bleeding disorders having dental surgery

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This Cochrane review only identified 2 RCTs involving a total of 59 patients that show a beneficial effect of systemically administered tranexamic acid and epsilon aminocaproic acid in preventing postoperative bleeding in people with haemophilia undergoing dental extraction.

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Crowns more effective than fillings for decay in primary molar teeth

PMC 2

Five RCTs were included in this Cochrane review comparing crowns with fillings for the management of caries in primary molars. Moderate evidence found crowns reduced the risk of major failure or pain in the long term compared to fillings

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Endodontic treatment – no evidence to support or refute use of magnification to improve clinical outcomes

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This Cochrane review was looking for evidence to assess the the effect of magnification devices on the outcome of endodontic treatment. No trials were identified, so there is no evidence to support or refute the use of magnification to improve clinical outcomes.

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Oral cancer- monoclonal antibodies combined with standard treatment may improve outcomes

radiotherapy

12 trials were included in this Cochrane review of molecularly targeted therapies and immunotherapies as adjuncts to standard treatments for oral cancer. Moderate evidence was found that standard therapy plus epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody (EGFR mAb) reduced mortality and locoregional failures.

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Smokeless tobacco – do behavioural and pharmacological interventions help users quit?

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Dominic Hurst looks at the recent Cochrane review of interventions to help smokeless tobacco (ST) users quit. ST use is linked to oral cancer, precancer and periodontal disease, so dentists have an important role in encouraging users to quit.

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Oral Cancer – DNA-image cytometry may have promise for early detection

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This diagnostic review compared two computer aided adjunctive tests for oral cancer. Oral CDX and DNA-image cytometry. The results suggest that DNA-image cytometry has a highly significant potential over OralCDx brush biopsy as an accurate and simple diagnostic tool for clinically suspected oral precancer and oral cancer.

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