John Baker summarises a recent Cochrane systematic review of cultural competence education for health professionals, which tentatively concludes that low quality evidence supports this approach.
[read the full story...]
Another review of failure rates of dental implants shows increased failure rates in patients with generalised aggressive periodontitis. Six studies (5 from the same research group ) involving 290 patients and 834 implants were included.
[read the full story...]
Raphael Underwood summarises a recent systematic review looking at implementing family involvement in the treatment of patients with psychosis.
[read the full story...]
This new review identified 22 studies but no randomised trials and found a higher dental implant failure rate in periodontally compromised patients than health ones. However concerns over study quality means the findings should be interpreted with caution.
[read the full story...]
Review of 36 studies at high risk of bias suggests that surgical treatment of mandibular condylar fractures provides a better clinical outcome for post-treatment malocclusion, protrusion, laterotrusion, and lateral deviation during maximal incisal opening in comparison to non-surgical treatment. But more patients affected by post-treatment infection.
[read the full story...]
Sarah Knowles and Ailsa Donnelly consider the findings on a systematic review which seeks to map the impact of patient and public involvement (PPI) on health and social care research.
[read the full story...]
There is a growing interest in patients’ expectations of dental implants. This review found 10 mainly cross sectional studies with variable quality of reporting. Expectations with respect to aesthetics and function predominated.
[read the full story...]
Kathryn Walsh summarises a systematic review which finds that cannabis use may exacerbate symptoms of mania in those with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and trigger symptoms of mania in the general population.
[read the full story...]
Early detection of oral cancer improves prognosis so methods to improve diagnosis are welcome. The review we look at today looks at two light-based systems: chemiluminescence or autofluorescence. 25 studies were included and they are well summarised but few were tested in primary care. Neither system provided much improvement on the level of sensitivity and specificity achieved by conventional oral examination. Therefore it is suggested that these tools are better suited to specialist clinics in which there is a higher prevalence of disease and where experienced clinicians may better discriminate between benign and malignant lesions.
[read the full story...]
1 in 100 adults experience autism worldwide but little research exists on autism in adults. Adults with autism and learning disability may have distinct needs, and in particular challenging behaviour, which may increase their social isolation and reduce access to quality health care.
In her debut blog, Kate van Dooren looks at a systematic review from Canadian researchers who examined the evidence for the use of medications for challenging behaviours in adults with autism and learning disability.
[read the full story...]
