child and adolescent

Birth – 18 years.

Our child and adolescent Blogs

Healthy Active Lives (HeAL): tackling premature death in young people with psychosis

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The Healthy Active Lives (HeAL) international consensus statement aims to reverse the trend of people with severe mental illness dying early by tackling risks for future physical illnesses pro-actively and much earlier. The statement is being launched today by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, at a special event focusing on achieving parity between mental and [read the full story…]

Limited evidence available of the caries risk in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis

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Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder that leads to the overproduction and accumulation of mucus in the lungs, which can result in airway obstruction and life-threatening bacterial.   Four risk factors related to CF are considered to increase the risk of dental caries; a 20- fold increase in intraoral Streptococcus mutans levels; gastroesophageal reflux disease [read the full story…]

High-viscosity glass-ionomer cements increased interproximal fluoride concentration more than resin-based fluoride-containing sealants

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The latest update of the Cochrane review on fissures sealants (Ahovuo-Saloranta et al 2013) confirmed the use of resin-based sealants as a effective method of preventing or controlling occlusal caries.  The Cochrane review included 15 trials comparing glass ionomer with resin sealants and there was insufficient evidence to make any conclusions about the superiority of [read the full story…]

Parents motivating factors for brushing children’s teeth were largely short term

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Regular toothbrushing with fluoride toothpaste has strong evidence for its effectiveness.  Brushing at least twice a day is more effective that once a day or less and ‘Twice a day” is has been a long-standing oral health message.  The aim of this qualitative study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the issues parents facing [read the full story…]

Can psychosocial treatments be used effectively to treat disruptive behaviour problems in young children?

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Jennifer Lau
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Disruptive behaviour problems (DPB) such as conduct problems or being oppositional and defiant affect a large proportion of young children. For example, one in eleven pre-schoolers may show these behaviours to a degree that would warrant a formal diagnosis of disruptive behaviour disorder. Because these early ‘externalising’ behavioural problems are stable across time, and eventually [read the full story…]

Insufficient evidence for the efficacy of primary school-based behavioural interventions for reducing caries

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This new Cochrane review looked at school-based interventions aimed at changing behaviour related to toothbrushing habits and the frequency of consumption of cariogenic food and drink in children between the ages of 4 and 12 years. The Cochrane Oral Health Group’s Trials Register, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) ,Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, [read the full story…]

Use of infant nutrition guidance did not lead to a significant reduction in early childhood caries

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Early childhood caries remains a significant problem in many parts of the world and has been defined by the American Dental Association as:- the presence of one or more decayed (non-cavitated or cavitated lesions), missing (due to caries) or filled tooth surfaces in any primary tooth in a preschool-age child between birth and 71 months [read the full story…]

NICE publish first clinical guideline on social anxiety disorder

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I wonder if the timing of this publication was planned to be so close to the release of DSM-5, but this debut guidance on social phobia (now known as social anxiety disorder) is certainly going to ruffle some feathers. It fuels the discussion about the medicalisation of human personality traits and some will see it [read the full story…]

Study shows that adolescents with symptoms of depression and suicidality are more at risk of unhealthy romantic relationships in adulthood

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Clinical depression is unfortunately relatively common in adolescence with a prevalence of about 5%. The rates of suicide per 100,000 are around 12.0 for females and 14.2 for males aged 15-24 years with suicidality (thoughts or uncompleted attempts at suicide) likely to be higher. Research and clinical experience suggests issues relating to suicide and depression [read the full story…]

Childhood trauma and abuse is the smoking of psychiatry

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Simon Hatcher
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Childhood trauma and abuse is the smoking of psychiatry. As a risk factor for mental illness it is comparable to how smoking a pack of cigarettes per day increases the risk of lung cancer and heart disease. As an adult psychiatrist I see the consequences of poor starts to life and do my best to [read the full story…]