Theory-guided school-based interventions may improve oral self care in adolescents

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In her debut blog, Jacqueline Burns considers a school-based cluster RCT, which demonstrated a small short-term improvement on oral self-care, using a social-cognitive theory based intervention.

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Sedation or general anaesthesia for dental treatment in children

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This update of a Cochrane review, first published in 2009, did not identify any RCTs comparing the efficiency of sedation versus general anaesthesia (GA) for the provision of a dental treatment.

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Smoking and tooth loss associated finds study

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This large German cohort study with 23,376 participants found that smoking was associated with tooth loss with heavy males smokers (≥15 cigarettes per day) having a 3 times higher tooth loss.

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Sense of Coherence and oral health behaviours

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Nine studies were identified for this review of the impact of sense of coherence (SOC) on oral health behaviours. The findings suggest that more favourable oral health behaviour are seen in those with a stronger SOC.

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Motivational interviewing for paediatric oral health

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The review of motivational interviewing (MI) to improve parent-child health interventions included 25 studies in all with 4 dental studies. The dental studies demonstrated a positive effect on oral health and were suggestive of a benefit on dental caries.

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Oral health promotion during pregnancy: little evidence available

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This review of oral health promotion in pregnancy included 7 studies with the majority (5) focused on improving knowledge. The description of the interventions was generally vague and just one was based on a recognised health behaviour theory.

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Health behaviour change counselling in a dental setting

This meta-analysis claims to be the first evaluating mindfulness-based interventions in primary care.

Oral health professionals can play an important role in helping patients adopt good health behaviours. This review summarises 7 systematic reviews, finding that the strongest evidence is for smoking cessation and dietary interventions delivered by dental professionals.

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Oral health improvement in care homes

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This cluster randomised controlled trial looked at changes in knowledge and attitudes in care homes following the introduction of an oral health care protocol. Significant improvements in knowledge were seen but no changes in attitudes.

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Poor oral health and severe mental illness: what are the links?

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Helge Hasselmann summarises a recent systematic review of poor oral health and severe mental illness (SMI), which found that people with SMI were 2.8 times more likely to have lost all their teeth, and had more missing, decayed or filled teeth.

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Oral health literacy: current tools biased towards word recognition, numeracy and reading skills

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This scoping review identified 14 oral health literacy tools identified 14 tools but most were biased to word recognition rather than health behaviours and service utilisation. Recently tools have incorporated incorporate other aspects considered important, including decision making and service navigation.

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