oral health

The optimal state of the mouth and normal functioning of the organs of the mouth without evidence of disease.

Our oral health Blogs

Oral health status: Does it have an impact of school attendance and performance?

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This review of the influence of oral health on school performance and school attendance included 18 observational studies and suggests a significant relationship between poor dental health and scchool attendance and performance.

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Oral hygiene advice: insufficient evidence for best way of providing one to one advice

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This Cochrane review of the effects of one-to-one oral hygiene advice, provided by a member of the dental team in a dental setting included 19 RCTs providing insufficient evidence to recommend any specific 1:1 method.

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Toothpaste: Does it inhibit plaque regrowth?

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This review of the effect of a regular fluoride dentifrice compared to water or saline on dental plaque inhibition using the 4-day non-brushing model included 9 studies and demonstrated a weak weak inhibitory effect on plaque regrowth with toothpaste use.

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Oral care for nursing home residents

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This Cochrane review of the effects of oral care on prevention of nursing home acquired pneumonia included 4 RCTs providing low quality evidence that oral care may reduce mortality.

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Antibiotics and toothache

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Only 2 RCTs are included in this Cochrane review update of the effects of systemic antibiotics on adults with symptomatic apical periodontitis or acute apical abscess providing insufficient evidence of effectiveness.

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Audiovisual distraction for dental anxiety in children?

Patients in the intervention group were shown a brief informational video before receiving their Internet based intervention, in the hope that this would encourage acceptance of the treatment. 

This review of the effectiveness of audiovisual distraction for reducing dental anxiety in children included 9 trials 6 of which were randomised. The findings suggested that audiovisual distraction was helpful in reducing dental anxiety although all the trials were considered to be at high risk of bias.

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Caries risk assessment: Limited evidence for current models

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This review of the effectiveness of Caries Risk Assessment (CRA) models included 32 studies providing limited evidence that CRA is effective for caries assessment and prediction.

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Orthodontic patients: Reminders improved oral hygiene and compliance

Recent research has shown how behavioural activation can be delivered via smartphones.

14 RCTs were included in this review of the effect of different reminders on oral hygiene and compliance in orthodontic patients. For most outcomes measured beneficial effects were seen in the patients receiving reminders.

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Toothbrushing: fluoride toothpaste needed to reduce caries

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Three RCTs were included in this review of the association between personal oral hygiene and coronal dental caries. The findings suggest that in the absence of fluorides personal oral hygiene did not reduce the incidence of caries.

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