This review of the efficacy of topical hyaluronic acid (HA) for reducing the signs and symptoms of recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) included 9 studies 8 of which were RCTs. The findings suggest that HA may be a potential treatment option for RAS but the evidence is of very low certainty.
[read the full story...]Denture stomatitis: Are natural products effective?
This review comparing topical natural substances with conventional antifungals in the treatment of denture stomatitis included 17 studies 14 of which were RCTs. A wider range of natural products were tested and showed similar efficacy to antifungals however, almost all the studies were at high risk of bias so the certainty of the evidence is very low.
[read the full story...]Oral cancer – adjunctive diagnostic tests
This Cochrane review update was to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of index tests for the detection of oral cancer and oral potentially malignant disorders, in people presenting with clinically evident suspicious and innocuous lesions.
[read the full story...]Oral proliferative verrucous leukoplakia and the rate of malignant transformation
This review of the evidence on the malignant transformation of oral proliferative verrucous leukoplakia included 17 mainly retrospective observational studies. The overall estimate for malignant transformation was 43.87% (95% CI; 31.93 to 56.13) but only 4 studies were at low risk of bias.
[read the full story...]Head and neck soft tissue sarcomas
This review of the distribution of histological subtypes, treatment and overall survival (OS) rates of head and neck sacomas included 8 studies from 6 countries. Meta-analysis (5 studies) found the 5-year OS = 74%(95%CI; 63 to 84%)
[read the full story...]Prevalence of burning mouth syndrome
This review evaluating the worldwide prevalence and epidemiology profile of burning mouth syndrome included 18 studies. Population based studies suggest an overall prevalence of 1.73% and clinically-based studies a 7.72% prevalence.
[read the full story...]Oral leukoplakia and rate of malignant transformation
This update of an earlier review of the malignant transformation rate of oral leukoplakia included 24 retrospective studies. The pooled proportion of malignant transformation was 9.8% (95%CI; 7.9 to 11.7%)
[read the full story...]Ten Years of the Dental Elf
It is now 10 years since the very first Dental Elf Blog. Since then we have published 1626 blogs covering a wide range of topics so we present a brief overview of the categories covered.
[read the full story...]Interventions for oral lichen planus
This systematic review and network meta-analysis comparing interventions for the management of oral lichen planus included 55 RCTs. While the findings suggested that topical corticosteroids may be most effective the evidence is of low to very low certainty.
[read the full story...]Malignant oral lesions in children and adolescents
This review of the the prevalence, types and distribution of malignant oral lesions in children and adolescents included 43 retrospective studies reporting on 64,522 biopsies. The findings indicate an overall prevlence of 1.93% (95%CI; 1.21 to 2.80.
[read the full story...]