John Baker summarises the findings of a recent review of people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression. The study looks at the adverse effects on physical health of psychotropic drugs (antipsychotics, antidepressants and mood stabilisers).
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The update of a 2007 Cochrane review of parasympathomimetic drugs for dry mouth after radiotherapy did not identify an new studies. The 3 RCTs identified in the previous version provide limited evidence to support the use of pilocarpine hydrochloride in the treatment of radiation-induced xerostomia.
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Clarissa Giebel finds a lot to discuss in a recent qualitative systematic review about living positively with dementia.
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Ten studies including both in vivo and ex-vivo designs were included in this review of electronic apex locators. The authors found that precision varied with the device and type of irrigation but was not influenced by the status of the pulp tissue. However, the quality of the included studies was not high with only two being considered to be at low risk of bias.
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This review of Tooth Mousse® (casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate) for caries prevention only identified 12 studies (8 RCTs). Many were of short duration and exhibited a great deal of heterogeneity; while there is some suggestion of benefit, the quality of the evidence is very low.
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Sally Adams summarises a recent meta-analysis of outcomes for independent and substance-induced disorders in people with depression and alcohol use disorders.
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This update of a Cochrane review, first published in 2009, did not identify any RCTs comparing the efficiency of sedation versus general anaesthesia (GA) for the provision of a dental treatment.
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This review of corded vs. cordless gingival retraction systems included 7 trials. Both may have a role with corded systems being suggested when there is a greater need for gingival displacement.
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People with learning disabilities have an increased risk of experiencing mental health problems but we need to understand more about the prevalence and presentation of these issues to help clinicians offering appropriate and effective treatments.
Here Angela Henderson looks at a systematic review of the literature on uni-polar depression in people with Down syndrome.
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This review looked at the ability of partial dentures to improve masticatory performance. 8 studies involving 180 patients were included suggesting that RPDs partially compensated for this reduced performance.
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