This review of the effectiveness of warm saltwater mouthwashes in preventing incidence of dry socket following tooth extraction included 8 RCTs. Only one of the included studies was considered to be at low risk of bias with the findings indicting that saltwater was more effective than no moutwash but less effective than chlorhexidine.
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Four RCTs involving a total of 212 patients were included in this review of a single pre-operative dose of oral corticosteroids in reducing pain,swelling & trismus after surgical removal of lower third molars. While the findings suggested there was little benefit to the patients none of the studies were small and none of them were at low risk of bias.
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This review assessing the efficacy and morbidity of biodegradable vs. titanium osteosyntheses in orthognathic surgery included 33 studies 11 of which were RCTs. The findings suggest that biodegradable osteosyntheses is a valid alternative to titanium osteosyntheses for orthognathic surgery, but the quality of evidence is low.
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It is now 10 years since the very first Dental Elf Blog. Since then we have published 1626 blogs covering a wide range of topics so we present a brief overview of the categories covered.
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This review of the prevalence of orofacial trauma in wheeled non-motor sports athletes included 5 cross-sectional studies involving 132,132 participants. Analyses showed the overall prevalence of orofacial trauma = 21.7% (95%CI; 8.7 to 34.7%) however the evidence was of very low certainty.
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16 RCTs were included in this Cochrane review update of the effectiveness of techniques for alveolar ridge preservation (ARP) following dental extractions prior to implant placement. The findings suggest that ARP techniques may minimise the overall changes in residual ridge height and width six months after extraction, but the evidence is very uncertain
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This review of factors influencing eruption of teeth associated with dentigerous cysts only included 4 small single-centre retrospective studies providing very low certainty evidence.
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This review of whether the incidence of osteoradionecrosis differed between patients who have dental extractions before or after radiotherapy (RT) included 24 studies (19 retrospective 5 prospective). While the findings suggest that the incidence is similar if extractions are undertaken before or after RT the quality of the evidence is limited.
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This review of whether helmet use and the type of helmet reduce facial fractures in motorcycle accidents included • 26 cross-sectional studies involving 68,594 patients. The findings suggest fewer upper and mid-face fracture in helment wearers.
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This review of metastasis to the oral and maxillofacial region included 217 studies (190 case reports,24 case series ). Metastasis were uncommon, but identified from 29 primary sites, the most common sites being lung the lungs (20.97%), breast (12.06%) and kidney (11.78%).
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