Does surgical root coverage reduce dentine hypersensitivity?

Gingival recession

This review of the effect of surgical root coverage (RC) on dentine hypersensitivity (DH) associated with gingival recession included 13 RCTs. The findings suggest that RC techniques are associated with a reduction in DH a majority of the included studies were small and DH was only a secondary outcome.

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Dietary omega-3 fatty acids as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal treatment

Fatty acid supplementation may have involved omega - 3 or -6 oils or both.

This review assessing the impact of dietary omega-3 fatty acids as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal treatment when compared with periodontal treatment alone included 10 trials ivolving a total of 467 patients. The studies found statistically significant improvements in clinical attachment level (CAL) and periodontal probing depth (PPD) but the studies are generally small and short-term.

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The efficacy of periodontal regenerative therapies, more challenges with network meta-analysis

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Mark-Steven Howe takes a detailed look at this review update and network meta-analyses of periodontal regenerative therapies. He highlights the inclusion of non-resorbable membrane studies that are no longer used.

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Tooth loss during long-term periodontal maintenance

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This review evaluating risk factors / predictors of tooth loss in patients with periodontitis having periodontal therapy and long-term periodontal maintenance (PM) included 33 studies only 3 of which were prospective. There findings suggest that patients having long-term PM suffer the loss of 1 tooth per patient every 10 years.

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Top Dental Elf Blogs: Oct – Dec 2020

The Dental Elf

Blogs on Hyposalivation in the elderly, powered toothbrushes for patients undergoing orthodontic treatment and the impact of smoking on the outcomes of non-surgical periodontal treatment were our most popular blogs.

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Smoking and its impact on non-surgical periodontal therapy

gum disease, scale and polish

This review of the impact of smoking on clinical outcomes of non-surgical periodontal treatment included 17 cohort studies of whihc 11 were prospective. The findings suggest statistically significant smaller improvements in the smoking that non-smoking group. However, any differences are modest and my not be clinically important.

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Photodynamic therapy as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal treatment

iStock_000001604217XSmall dental laser

This review of the adjunctive effects of lasers or antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) to non-surgical periodontal treatment included 17 RCTs. The studies were small and hetrogeneous including just 701 patients in total and of low quality providing very limited evidence.

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Periodontitis: Locally delivered antimicrobials as an adjunct to non-surgical treatment

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This review of of locally delivered antimicrobials as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) for the non-surgical treatment of patients with periodontitis included 50 RCTs. While the findings indicate statistically significant benefits for probing pocket depth and clinical attachment level (CAL) at 6-9 months and for CAL at 12-60 months their clinical importance can be questioned. In addition most of the studies(47) were considered to be at high risk of bias.

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Periodontitis: Systemic antimicrobials as an adjunct to non-surgical treatment

Periodontal disease
Periodontitis

This Cochrane review of the effects of systemic antimicrobials as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) for the non-surgical treatment of patients with periodontitis identified 45 RCTs. However the evidence is of very low certainty to inform tclinicians and patients if adjunctive antibiotics are beneficial.

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Subgingival instrumentation for treating periodontitis

gum disease, scale and polish

This review evaluating the efficacy of subgingival instruments for the treatment of periodontitis included 19 RCTs. The findings show that mechanical subgingival instrumentation is efficacious in the nonsurgical treatment of periodontitis, irrespective of type of instrument or mode of delivery.

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