Study suggests less post-operative pain and swelling with piezosurgery for enucleation of mandibular cysts

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Piezosurgery (piezoelectric bone surgery) is considered to reduce intraoperative bleeding, creating a better visibility of the surgical field and make the cutting of hard tissue possible, through a “selective cutting” without encountering necrosis from overheating, and without damaging nerves and vessel. The aim of this study was to compare piezoelectric surgery to the conventional rotatory [read the full story…]

Insufficient evidence to refute or support the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for patients with head and neck cancer

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Worldwide there are more than 500,000 new cases of head and neck cancer annually, making it the 5th most common cancer.  A diagnosis of head and neck cancer has a significant psychosocial impact and interventions have been developed to help patients cope with the emotional and social impact of the condition. The aim of this [read the full story…]

Inadequate evidence to support the effectiveness of treatment of mandibular fractures without condylar involvement

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Fracture of the mandible is a common facial injury with interpersonal violence and road traffic accidents being the leading causes of this type of injury.  Treatment usually involves immobilisation with intermaxillary fixation (IMF) or other external or internal devices (i.e. plates and screws) to allow bone healing and may involve surgical (open) or non-surgical (closed) [read the full story…]

Review suggests that open reduction of mandibular condyle fractures may have better outcomes

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Around a third of mandibular fractures involve the mandibular condyle. Treatment approaches involve either an open or closed approach and there is no general agreement of which method should be used.    The aim of this review was to compare open and closed treatment of moderately displaced condylar fractures. The authors searched 3 databases PubMed, Cochrane [read the full story…]

Little good quality evidence on whether to leave or remove impacted third molars involved in fractures of the angle of the mandible

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Fracture of the mandible often occurs through the angle where it may be closely related to, or involve an impacted third molar. There is a debate about whether they should always be extracted or retained.  The aim of this review was to measure the occurrence of postoperative infection following mandibular fixation performed in the presence [read the full story…]

Only weak evidence available of the impact of smoking on survival of implants placed in augmented areas of maxillary sinus

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Grafting to augment the floor of the maxillary sinus prior to placement of dental implants in the resorbed maxillary is an increasingly used technique. The aim of this review was to evaluate the effects of smoking on the survival rate of dental implants placed in areas of maxillary sinus floor augmentation. Searches were conducted in [read the full story…]

Small trial suggests no difference between chlorhexidine rinse and amoxicillin in reducing bacteraemia during third molar extractions

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As bacteraemia occurs during toothbrushing  (Dental Elf 5th Oct 2011) it is to be anticipated during more invasive activities such as flossing, scaling (Dental Elf 9th Jan 2013) and dental extractions.  The main aim of this study was to directly compare and determine the effect of a pre- procedure rinse of 0.12% chlorhexidine on the [read the full story…]

Absence of evidence on quality of life after different treatment options for fracture of mandibular condyles

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Fractures of the mandibular condyle account for between a quarter and a third of mandibular fractures. However, there is still controversy about the best method of treatment . A recent meta-analysis by Kyas et al ( Dental Elf 20Apr 2012)  suggested that open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) may be as good if not better [read the full story…]

Review shows that tranexamic acid reduced blood loss in orthognathic surgery

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Significant blood loss can occur during orthognathic surgery and there are risks associated with blood transfusion so minimizing blood loss during surgery is important.  A large number of trials and reviews have shown that the antifibrinolytic agent tranexamic acid ( a synthetic amino acid lysine analog )  can effectively reduce bleeding in a number of [read the full story…]

Review finds good success rates with sialendoscopy for treating salivary gland obstruction

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About 50% of benign salivary gland disease results from obstructive sialadenitis. The majority of cases are seen in the submandibular gland (80-90%) with 10-15% in the parotid and  < 1% in the sublingual gland.  The aim of this review was to summarize the current literature and determine the efficacy and safety of sialendoscopy in the [read the full story…]