Caries lesions in enamel – Still drill and fill?

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This review of dental clinicians thresholds for intervention in teeth with caries included 30 studies over a 31year time span. 21% (95%CI;15%-28%) of dentists/therapists would intervene invasively for lesions confined to enamel doubling in high risk patients with little changed being noted over time.

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Top Dental Elf Blogs of 2015

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Derek Richards presents the top Dental Elf Blogs of 2015. Highlights include eating disorders and oral health, the long awaited Cochrane Review of water fluoridation and the update of the NICE guidance on infective endocarditis.

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Dental screening: a role for hygiene-therapists?

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This study compared the diagnostic accuracy of dental screening by hygiene-therapists with dentists. The results show that they could be used to screen for caries and periodontal disease. This could allow for a change in the traditional model of dental care seen in the UK.

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Paucity of high-quality evaluations of the relative effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and safety of dental auxiliaries

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This new Cochrane review looks at studies assessing the effectiveness, costs and cost effectiveness of dental auxiliaries in providing care traditionally provided by dentists. Only 5 studies, the majority conducted more than 20 years ago could be included so no firm conclusions can be made.

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Evidence for the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of dental auxiliaries in improving oral health outcomes limited

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Access to oral health care is difficult in many parts of the world.  One way of improving this is by delegating tasks traditionally undertaken by dentists to other members of the dental team.  The question addressed by this review by Wright et al was: – In populations where non-dentists conduct diagnostic, treatment planning, and/or irreversible/surgical [read the full story…]

Dental care provision by auxilary dental providers

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The aim of this review was to evaluate the existing evidence in relation to the safety, quality, productivity or cost-benefit, and patient satisfaction of the procedures performed by the different groups of dental providers. The authors searched the Cochrane, Medline, Embase, and PubMed databases.  They included  4 papers that addressed safety , 9 for quality  [read the full story…]