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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Predictors of caries in preschool Hong Kong children

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A  systematic review has identified 106 potential risk factors to be associated with the prevalence or incidence of dental caries in primary teeth.  The aim of this study was to describe the development of new caries over 2 years and to identify risk factors that can predict new caries development. A random sample of preschool [read the full story…]

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Triester glycerol oxide gel not effective for ulcers following placement of complete dentures

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The aim of this trial was to assess the efficacy of a topical gel with triester glycerol oxide for treating ulcerations related to new complete dentures was studied and compared with a placebo gel. Fifty edentulous patients who received new maxillary and mandibular complete dentures were enrolled in this double-blind clinical study. Twenty-five patients received [read the full story…]

Oral appliances for treating headache in patients with myofascial pain

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The aim of this trial  was to compare the short- and long-term effectiveness of a prefabricated occlusal appliance with that of a stabilization appliance when treating headache in patients with myofascial pain. A group of 66 patients attending two centres for Stomatognathic Physiology in Sweden and Finland 94% of whom suffered concomitantly from headache were [read the full story…]

Bioactive glass in the treatment of periodontal defects

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This aim of this review was to review to compile and synthesise the evidence on the use of bioactive glass (BG) as a graft material to treat infrabony defects caused by periodontal disease. The authors searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews as well as a manual search of recently published peridontology journals [read the full story…]

Insufficient evidence for timing of implant placement following extraction

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This systematic review publication based on a Cochrane review was first published in 2010 . The American Dental Association Centre for Evidence-based Dentistry has now published a critical summary of this review. The review was of high quality, only considering randomised controlled trials comparing  immediate (I), immediate-delayed (ID) or delayed (D) implant placement.  However most [read the full story…]

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How stable is treatment for anterior open bite

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Anterior open-bite (AOB) is considered to be a challenging malocclusion to treat.  The aim  of this review  was to assess the scientific literature and compile the current state of  the evidence for stability of surgical and nonsurgical therapies for AOB malocclusion. Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched  for studies in humans where the [read the full story…]

Mandibular advancement devices in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea

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Randomized controlled trials have previously  addressed the efficacy of mandibular advancement devices (MADs) in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).  The control used in these studies is usually nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP). It is frequently found to be superior to MAD therapy. In most of these studies nCPAP was titrated objectively but [read the full story…]

The addition of a maxillary labial bow to the Clark Twin Block has no influence

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The Clark Twin Block (CTB) is a functional orthodontic appliance. Functional appliances contribute to the correction of Class II malocclusions in growing patients through a combination of dentoalveolar and skeletal effects. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the addition of a maxillary labial bow has any effect on the inclination of the [read the full story…]

Face-to-face tailored messages have a positive effective on health behaviours

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Providing effective health education is a core role for health practitioners. This review looked at the effectiveness of face-to-face delivered tailored health messages on patient behaviour and applications for practice. Medline, Embase, Psycinfo and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials(CENTRAL) and reference lists of related systematic reviews  were  searched.  Randomised controlled trials (RCT) involving [read the full story…]

Some evidence that rapid maxillary expansion improves the conditions for nasal breathing

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Rapid maxillary expansion (RME) is an orthopaedic procedure that has been used in orthodontics to open the midpalatal suture in order to provide a correct and stable maxillary width.  The aim of the review was to evaluate the effects of RME on the nasal airways. The Ovid, Scirus, Scopus, Virtual Health Library, and Cochrane Library [read the full story…]