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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Implant supported lower dentures increased satisfaction and quality of life over conventional dentures

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Edentulism can have functional, aesthetic and psychological impacts on patients.   The aim of this study was to compare any improvement  in quality of life and overall patient satisfaction following the provision of implant supported mandibular overdentures compared with conventional mandibular dentures. 122 edentulous patients had a baseline assessment of denture satisfaction and quality of life [read the full story…]

Persistent post endodontic pain many not be tooth related

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Another critical summary of a systematic review prepared under the auspices of the American Dental Association Center for Evidence-Based Dentistry.   Originally published in 2010 , the review  aimed to assess the frequency of non-odontogenic dentoalveolar pain six months or more after endodontic therapy. The summariser notes the that both English and non-English language articles were [read the full story…]

Patient factors that affect successful dental implant placement

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The use of dental implants is expanding rapidly.  Treatment planning for their placement involves the assessment of patient-related risk factors prior to formulation of a treatment plan. The aim of this review was to assess relevant literature and provide evidence-based information on the successful surgical placement of dental implants The authors conducted a search of [read the full story…]

Antiepileptic drugs and oral health

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Epilepsy affects between 40-70 per 100,000 of the population in the developed world.  Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in particular phenytoin (PHT) is associated with gingival hyperplasia(GH) . The aim of this review was to explore the effects of all AEDs on oral health. The authors searched PubMed, EMBASE the Cochrane library and bibliographies of relevant articles. [read the full story…]

Intrabony defects treated with conservative periodontal surgery show clinical improvements

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Periodontal bony lesions associated with deep pockets are frequent anatomical sequelae to periodontitis.  The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effectiveness of conservative periodontal surgery (CS)  for the treatment of periodontitis-related intrabony defects. The authors searched the Cochrane Oral Health Group specialist trials, Medline and Embase databases and three leading periodontal journals.  [read the full story…]

Some weak evidence for non-invasive psychosocial interventions in the management of chronic orofacial pain

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This Cochrane review  aimed to determine efficacy of psychosocial interventions in the management of chronic orofacial pain.   The authors highlight four recognisable symptom complexes of chronic orofacial pain that may coexist: temporomandibular disorder (myofacial face pain); atypical facial pain (atypical facial neuralgia); atypical odontalgia (phantom tooth pain); and burning mouth (oral dysaesthesia, glossodynia, glossopyrosis). Searches [read the full story…]

Nociceptive Trigeminal Inhibition tension suppression system and temporomandibular disorders

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This recently published critical summary of a systematic review was prepared under the auspices of the American Dental Association Center for Evidence-Based Dentistry.  The review  summarised aimed to assess the effectiveness of the NTI-tss (Nociceptive Trigeminal Inhibition tension suppression system) device for the treatment of bruxism, headache and temporomandibular disorders was originally published in 2008. [read the full story…]

Having older parents may increase the risk of oral clefts

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Craniofacial anomalies are a highly diverse group of complex congenital defects, which affect a small but significant proportion of populations. Oral clefts (cleft lip and palate) are the most frequent craniofacial anomalies.  The aim of this study was to review the relationship of maternal and paternal age with the occurrence of non-syndromic oral clefts. The [read the full story…]

Mouth care and ventilator-associated pneumonia

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For critically  ill patients  receiving mechanical ventilation, ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a life threatening condition. Incidence rates varies and mortality rates can be as high as 50% . The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects brushing teeth twice daily with purified water on VAP rates and oral health or hygiene in postneurosurgical, [read the full story…]

acetylsalicylic acid for secondary prevention of cardiovascular events and post extraction haemorrhage

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In patients who use acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular events some dentists recommend suspending its use before dental procedures to reduce bleeding. However, this potentially increases the risk of thromboembolic events. The effect of ASA on the amount of bleeding that occurs during tooth extraction procedures is controversial, and [read the full story…]