Chronic pain in mental disorders: a widely overlooked comorbidity

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Chronic pain is highly common across mental disorders, yet routinely overlooked. This umbrella review of nearly a million people makes the case for integrated care.

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Do prescribed opioids increase self-harm and suicide?

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Study of 3 million Australian adults prescribed opioids, 84% of self-harm events and 81% of suicides didn’t involve opioids. Challenges belief that prescribing increases self-harm risk.

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Inside the urge: Interoception, affective touch, and the emerging science of skin-picking disorder

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A growing body of research suggests that disrupted interoception and affective touch might play a role in skin-picking disorder. This blog critically examines the first systematic review to map this emerging field.

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Cannabis use and its legalisation: analysing chronic pain in US veterans using electronic health records

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In their debut blog, Grace Williamson and Daniel Leightley review a US study on chronic pain, cannabis legalisation, and cannabis use disorder in US veterans.

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Articaine v lidocaine for third molar removal

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This review comparing the effectiveness of articaine and lidocaine for lower third molar surgery included 14 RCTs. The findings suggest that articaine is superior to lidocaine for use in lower third molar however the available are small so additional larger high quality studies would be helpful to strengthen the evidence.

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Genetic risk for Tourette Syndrome and related conditions

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Ed Palmer considers new research on the genetic risk for Tourette Syndrome and it’s relationship to other mental and physical health conditions.

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Low level laser therapy for burning mouth syndrome

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This review to evaluate the effect of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) on burning pain, quality of life, and negative emotions in patients with burning mouth syndrome included 14 RCTs only two of which were at low risk of bias.While the findinds suggest that LLLT has a positive effect the quality of evidence means the findings should be interpreted cautiously.

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Intraoral scanning v conventional impressions – patient related outcomes

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This review comparing patient-related outcomes of intraoral scanning and conventional impression methods included 13 studies. Nine of the included studies were RCTs and all were considered to be at unclear risk of bias. The findings indicated a patient preference for digital scanning over conventional impression techniques.

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Photobiomodulation for post-operative pain, swelling and trismus after third molar surgery

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This review of the effects of photobiomodulation (PBM) on pain, oedema, and trismus after extraction of impacted mandibular third molars included 33 RCTs. However 30 of the included studies were considered to be at high risk of bias, and while the results suggested small benefits for PBM in relation to reduction of pain and swelling these were not considered to be clinically important.

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Chewing gum for pain during and after orthodontic appliance installation

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This review of the efficacy of chewing gum in reducing pain intensity in patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment included 16 RCTs. The findings suggest , chewing gum was significantly more effective than both pharmacologic agents and placebo in reducing orthodontic pain 24 hours. However the evidence is of very low certainty.

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