Review suggests cleft lip and or palate patients may have higher prevalence of caries

shutterstock_91019771 Clefts

Cleft lip and palate is a relatively common birth defect that occurs in around 1 in 700  births and there have been contradictory reports of caries prevalence in CLP populations  with some studies finding no difference and others an increase in prevalence.  The aim of this review was to evaluate caries prevalence in non-syndromic patient [read the full story…]

Atraumatic restorative treatment had similar survival rates to conventional approaches in primary teeth but evidence limited

shutterstock_92524393

Atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) involves the removal of so softened carious enamel and dentine with hand instruments and filling the cavity with a adhesive restorative material. Typically this is a high-viscous glass ionomer cement (GIC).   This approach was about 25 years ago  to provide care in less industrialised areas with high disease levels but is [read the full story…]

No reliable evidence of benefit from extracting primary canine teeth for correcting poorly aligned permanent canines

shutterstock_8524240-unerupted canines

In a small proportion of children (1-3%) the upper permanent canine tooth is diverted into the roof on the mouth.  Treatment of this displacement can be complex and it is considered that the early removal of the primary canine tooth may improve the position f the developing permanent successor. The aim of this Cochrane review [read the full story…]

Mineral trioxide aggregrate for endodontic treatment of primary molars

shutterstock_54785035-cement

Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) has been put to a range of dental uses, direct pulp capping root-end filling, apexogenesis and apexification in immature teeth, filling root canals an treatment of root fractures. The aim of this review was to evaluate whether the currently available evidence is of an appropriate quality to support the long-term effectiveness [read the full story…]

Smear layer removal improved pulpectomy outcome in primary teeth

Photograph of carious teeth

Pulpectomy is, indicated for primary teeth with irreversibly inflamed or necrotic radicular pulps because of caries or trauma. The main aim of this trial was to evaluate the outcome of pulpectomy with smear layer removal versus no smear layer removal. Patients were randomised to receive pulpectomy under rubber dam with either smear layer removal (G1) [read the full story…]