This review by Menini et al aimed to evaluate the prognosis of immediately loaded full-arch prostheses supported by both upright and tilted implants in the maxillae, after at least 1 yr. of function. The authors searched the PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and EMBASE databases for human studies that included participants of [read the full story…]
Have you ever had low back pain lasting longer than 6 weeks? I know a few elves who have. Did you know it is estimated that 28% of people will experience disabling low back pain (LBP) sometime during their lives and that 80% to 90% of attacks of low back pain resolve in about 6 [read the full story…]
Caring for someone close to you with dementia can be a long and rocky road. Family carers often focus on the needs of their loved one and forget about their own health and wellbeing, which can make it harder to cope as time goes on. The relationship between the carer and the recipient of care [read the full story…]
Men who physically abuse their partners are often treated with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Men sometimes sign up to these treatment programmes voluntarily, but are also sometimes obliged to participate by a court order. CBT can help change behaviour and also break established thinking patterns and beliefs, but is there any reliable evidence that this [read the full story…]
Did you know that the prevalence of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) in developed countries is about 50 -160 cases per 1000? It affects women more than men and typically develops between 50 to 54 and 75 to 84 years. It is also common during pregnancy affecting up to 50% of pregnant women, the good news for [read the full story…]
Flapless approaches to implant placement use rotary burs or a tissue punch to gain access to bone without flap elevation. The theory being that the vascular supply and surrounding soft tissue are well preserved. Flapless surgery is however considered to have a number of limitations, e.g. poor control of precise drilling; inability to preserve keratinized [read the full story…]
Osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip or knee joints is a very common condition amongst the elderly; however, what is often forgotten is that its onset is often while people are still in paid employment, which may lead to perceived difficulties in performing work tasks. We Elves are very hard-working individuals, so I asked myself, in [read the full story…]
One of the criticisms that health professionals sometimes make of evidence-based research is that individual studies or reviews do not apply to the specific patient they are caring for. Of course, each patient is unique with their own values and preferences, as well as their own particular clinical characteristics, genetic make-up, biological markers and sociodemographic [read the full story…]
The August issue of the Cochrane library has one new protocol from the Oral Health Group. Kozel JA, Macedo CR, Atallah ÁN. Laceback ligatures for controlling anchorage in patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment (Protocol). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2012, Issue 8. Art. No.: CD010014. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD010014. The aims of this review are to determine [read the full story…]
While talking to a fellow Elf recently at the World Congress of Active Ageing in Glasgow this week about the core set of outcome measures that have been introduced across Scotland as part of its re-designed musculoskeletal pathways (NHS Scotland, 2012) she asked me an interesting question: “do you think that a patient-specific functional scale [read the full story…]
