Derek Richards

Profile photo of Derek Richards
Derek Richards is the Director of the Centre for Evidence-based Dentistry, Editor of the Evidence-based Dentistry Journal, Consultant in Dental Public Health with Forth Valley Health Board and Honorary Senior Lecturer at Dundee & Glasgow Dental Schools. He helped to establish both the Centre for Evidence-based Dentistry and the Evidence-based Dentistry Journal. He has been involved with teaching EBD and a wide range of evidence-based initiatives both nationally and internationally since 1994.

Website

Follow me here –

Atraumatic restorative treatment or conventional treatment for root caries in older adults?

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
This study is the first of its kind from an RCT perspective which clearly shows that treating major depression in older adults using interventions in primary care settings can extend life

This review of atraumatic restorative treatment or conventional treatment for restoration of root caries lesions in older adults included 3 RCTs providing is insufficient data to clearly rule out whether differences between ART and CT exist.

[read the full story...]

Dental fear and anxiety: Is it related to negative oral health beliefs?

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
Media coverage of the paper by Davies and Read was emotive and damning in terms of the dangers of antidepressant medication.

This review of the evidence on the relationship of oral health beliefs with dental fear and anxiety included 10 studies and suggests that patients with negative health beliefs are more likely to suffer with dental fear and anxiety.

[read the full story...]

Distraction techniques for managing dental anxiety in children and adolescents

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_68251921 dental education young girl and nurses

This review assessing whether distraction techniques reduce children’s/adolescent’s anxiety and fear during dental treatment included 20 RCTs providing very low certainty evidence that these techniques have a positive effect.

[read the full story...]

Bisphenol-A: Exposure from dental treatment

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
Bisphenol-A

This review on Bisphenol-A (BPA) exposure from dental treatment included 7 studies and suggests an increase in urinary BPA after 24 hours returning to baseline by 14 days.

[read the full story...]

Oral hygiene programmes for people with intellectual disabilities

1 Response »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
Teeth_clean2

This Cochrane review of oral hygiene interventions for people with intellectual difficulties included 34 studies (19 RCTs, 15 non-randomised studies) find some interventions provided benefits but their clinical importance was unclear.

[read the full story...]

Actinic cheilitis: What is the best treatment?

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
3771dc29417675.55f1c6216be00

This review of treatments for actinic cheilitis included 29 mainly observational studies providing little evidence to identify the best treatment approaches.

[read the full story...]

Photobiomodulation therapy and dental implant stability and success

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_67927216

8 small short term RCTs were included in this review of the effect of photobiomodulation (low-level laser therapy) on dental implant stability and success suggesting no differences

[read the full story...]

Geographic tongue and psoriasis

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
oral_lichen

This review assessing the prevalence of geographic tongue in psoriatic and non-psoriatic patients includded 11 cas-controlled studies. Meta-analysis showed that the odds of having geographic tongue in patients with psoriasis was higher OR = 3.53 (95%CI; 2.56-4.86).

[read the full story...]

Dental implant placement: which antibiotic protocol?

No Responses »
Profile photo of Derek Richards
Posted by
shutterstock_70384249

This review of the the effectiveness of different antibiotic protocols to prevent early dental implant failure includes 9 RCTs showing that antibiotics were protective against early implant failures.

[read the full story...]