Derek Richards

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Derek Richards is a specialist in dental public health, Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Dentistry and Specialist Advisor to the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) Development Team. A former editor of the Evidence-Based Dentistry Journal and chief blogger for the Dental Elf website until December 2023. Derek has been involved with a wide range of evidence-based initiatives both nationally and internationally since 1994. Derek retired from the NHS in 2019 remaining as a part-time senior lecturer at Dundee Dental School until the end of 2023.

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Some limited evidence that patients with previous periodontal disease at higher risk of dental implant failure

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Dental implants are now widely used to replace missing teeth and periodontal disease is an important cause of tooth loss.  As implants themselves can suffer from peri-implantitis  it is therefore of interest to as to whether patients with a history of periodontitis are of higher risk of implant failure.  This critical appraisal of a 2010 [read the full story…]

Supplementary injections to increase numbers of patients receiving pain-free dental treatment

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Unfortunately for patients  with irreversible pulpitis inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) is not always successful in achieving satisfactory levels of anaesthesia. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of supplementary repeat inferior alveolar nerve block with 2% lidocaine and epinephrine, buccal infiltration with 4% articaine with epinephrine, intraligamentary injection, or intraosseous injection [read the full story…]

0.2% chlorhexidine mouthrinse gave slightly better plaque reduction than 0.12% mouthrinse

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In 2010 Berchier et al  reviewed the efficacy of two different concentrations of  chlorhexidine mouthrinse ( 0.2 & 0.12% ).  A critical appraisal of this review is now available on the American Dental Associations Evidence-based Dentistry website. The commentator notes that a comprehensive search strategy was used although restricted to the English language. Eight studies [read the full story…]

Taking ibuprofen before wisdom tooth removal does not appear to be more effective for controlling post operative pain

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The removal of lower third molars is one of the commonest surgical procedures. The effective management of post operative pain is an important consideration and it has been suggested that preoperative administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may be more effective than post operative administration. The aim of this study was therefore to compare the [read the full story…]

Use of sugar free gum may have potential benefits for oral health of older people

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The aim of this study was to determine the effects of sugar-free chewing gum on the oral health and quality of life of dentate older people living in the community and attending for routine dental care. What did they do Participants aged 60 years and over with a minimum of 6 natural teeth living independently [read the full story…]

Elf Break

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The Dental Elf is taking a week’s break  to deliver some lectures –  we will be back on the 4th June

Systemic antibiotics as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal treatment

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Systemic and locally delivered antibiotics have been used as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) for the treatment of periodontal disease for many years. The aim of this review was to systematically evaluate the data concerning the effect of the concomitant administration of amoxicillin and metronidazole adjunctive to SRP in otherwise healthy adults. [read the full story…]

Limited low quality evidence for success rate of implants placed in horizontal and vertical guided bone regenerated areas

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A certain amount of bone is required for the placement of dental implants  and a range of techniques applied to  reconstruct alveolar bone in order to place dental  implants.  The aim of this review was to assess the success rate of implants placed in horizontal and vertical guided bone regenerated (GBR) areas. What did they [read the full story…]

Limited randomized clinical trial evidence on the survival of dental small-diameter Implants

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Endosseous root form dental implants have been available since the 1960s while dental Small-Diameter Implants were first introduced commercially in the dental field in 1990. The aim of this study was to determine, the survival of narrow diameter implants, whether survival is dependent on whether these implants are placed using a flap or flapless approach, [read the full story…]

New Cochrane protocols for May 2012

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The May issue of the Cochrane library sees another 3 dental protocols published:- Brocklehurst P, Tickle M, Birch S, Glenny AM, Mertz E, Grytten J. The effect of different methods of remuneration on the behaviour of primary care dentists (Protocol). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2012, Issue 5. Art. No.: CD009853. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009853. This review  [read the full story…]

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