Top Dental Elf Blogs of 2016

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During 2016 the Dental Elves has published 158 blogs covering a broad range of topics. The most popular blogs of each month are highlighted.

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Oral Mucositis: can honey reduce its severity?

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This review of the use of honey to educe the severity of radio/chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis identified 7 low quality RCTs that suggest that use of honey may reduce the severity of oral mucositis.

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Marijuana use and head and neck cancer risk #CannabisMatters

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9 case-controlled studies were included in this review of the effect of marijuana use on head and neck cancer. The findings suggest no association marijuana use and head and neck cancer but other reviews suggest that this may differ by tumour site

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High frequency or prolonged use of mouthwash increased risk of head and neck cancer

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This study from the INHANCE collaboration pooled data from 12 case-controlled studies. Long-term use (35 yrs) of mouthwash was associated with an increase risk OR=1.15 (95%CI; 1.01 to 1.30) of head and neck cancer but with regular (>2 x daily), long-term (>35 years) use OR = 1.75 (95%CI; 1.25 to 2.48).

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Coffee consumption and oral cancer

Prescribing a placebo does not equate to no treatment, because the healthcare setting itself should include all kinds of supportive and therapeutic elements.

This review includes 11 case-controlled and 4 cohort studies and suggests a 37% reduction of oral cancer risk in high coffee drinkers compared with low or no coffee drinkers OR= 0.63 (95%CI; 0.52 – 0.75)

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Tobacco use and alcohol intake key risk factors for head and neck cancer

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The International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium is a collaboration of research groups leading large epidemiology studies to improve the understanding of the causes and mechanisms of head and neck cancer. This overview paper provides a summary their findings over the past decade.

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

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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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Oral leukoplakia: malignant transformation rate highly variable

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This review of the malignant transformation rate of oral leukoplakia included 24 studies, the majority of which were retrospective. The range of malignant transformation was between 0.13% and 34.0%. The quality of the available data was limited and there is a need for higher quality well-reported studies.

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