Children vs dependent older people – facilitators and barriers to providing oral hygiene

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In this their latest blog Gemma Gaw, Suzy Harkness, Emma O’Donnell Scottish Specialty Registrars in Special Care Dentistry look at a review comparing barriers and facilitators to providing oral health measures for both children and dependent older adults.

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Flossing: Before or after brushing?

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This review comparing the clinical performance of flossing before or after toothbrushing included two small RCTs involving a total of 60 patients. The findings suggest no difference with the use of floss before or after toothbrushing however the quality of the evidence is limited.

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Oral hygiene compliance in orthodontic patients

The authors recommended that people with severe mental illness should be given help with oral hygiene.

This review of the effectiveness of behavioural change techniques (BCTs) on individuals undergoing orthodontic treatment included 10 studies involving 1017 patients. While the interventions tested improved oral health behaviours the quality of the evidence is very low.

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Dentures: Overnight storage and Candida Albicans colonisation

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This review of the effect of overnight storage conditions on complete denture colonization by Candida albicans included 6 small studies. The available evidence is limited and of low quality so well conducted and reported trials of appropriate size and required.

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Oral hygiene for critically ill patients

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This Cochrane review updated assessing the impact of oral health measures on the incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) in critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation in intensive care includes 40 RCTs and suggests that Chlorhexidine mouthwash or gel, as part of oral health measures, probably reduces the incidence of developing VAP.

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Powered toothbrushes and plaque control in orthodontic patients

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Typically, fixed appliance orthodontic treatment can last 18-24 months. As the presence of orthodontic appliance encourages plaque accumulation the maintenance of good oral hygiene is important is prevent adverse oral health outcomes.  The small head sizes of powered toothbrushes are considered to assist effective oral hygiene and have been sown to benefit oral health. The [read the full story…]

Top Dental Elf Blogs Apr– Jun 2019

The Dental Elf brings you daily updates of evidence-based dentistry research

The Cochrane review of interdental cleaning devices, whether antibiotics are needed for dental implant placement and oral health programmes for people with intellectual difficulties were our most popular blogs of the spring.

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Root caries risk predictors

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This review of risk predictors of root caries was based on 16 cohorts. The findings suggest a number of risk predictors but only 4 of the included studies were considered to be of high quality.

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Orthodontic bonding: Direct or indirect?

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This review of direct and indirect bonding techniques for orthodontic backet placement included 8 small RCTs of limited quality suggesting no significant difference in bracket placement accuracy, oral hygiene status and bond failure rate.

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Intellectual disability and oral health

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This review of on the oral health of community dwelling adults with intellectual disabilities included 33 mainly cross-sectional studies showing a the continuing high prevalence of oral disease and treatment need

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