Evaluation of dental therapists undertaking dental examinations in a school setting in Scotland.

Objective: To measure agreement between dental therapists and the Scottish gold-standard dentist undertaking National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP) examinations.

Methods: A study of interexaminer agreement between 19 dental therapists and the national gold-standard dentist was carried out. Pre-calibration training used the caries diagnostic criteria and examination techniques agreed by the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD).

Communication skills for extended duties dental nurses: the childsmile perspective.

Good communication and influencing skills are key competency areas for dental nurses and are highly relevant when working with children and their families/carers in Childsmile, a national oral health improvement programme for children in Scotland. The General Dental Council (GDC) identifies communication skills as one of the nine principles for registrants; a large number of complaints seen by the GDC relate to allegations around communication and patient expectations not being fully met. Much time and investment has been spent in researching the role of the Extended Duties Dental Nurse (EDDN) and ensuring appropriate training is provided.

Are children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis at lower risk of caries?

Data Sources: The Medline, Embase and Web of Science databases were searched.

Study Selection: Human clinical trials, evaluation studies and systematic reviews related to dental caries prevalence in children and adolescents with CF under age 18 years were included.

Data Extraction And Synthesis: Standard date items were extracted and risk of bias was assessed using adapted criteria from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement.

Early childhood caries.

Data Sources: Medline and Embase electronic databases were searched.

Study Selection: Papers published between 1996 and 2011 were initially identified by one reviewer, with 10% being independently reviewed by a second reviewer having predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Data Extraction And Synthesis: Data abstraction was conducted independently and meta-analysis was not attempted because of the heterogeneity of the studies.

10% chlorhexidine varnish did not reduce caries in an adult population.

Design: A multi-centre, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised clinical trial involving 983 adults (aged 18-80 years old).

Intervention: The test group received chlorhexidine diacetate 10% weight per volume (w/v) dental coating and the control group received a placebo coating. Coatings were applied weekly for four weeks and a fifth time six months later.

Fluoride varnish may be effective in preschoolers.

Data Sources: BBO, Lilacs, Medline and the Cochrane library were searched.

Study Selection: Randomised or quasi-randomised controlled clinical trials (RCTs) or controlled clinical trials (CCTs) conducted in children up to six years of age undergoing any form of topical fluoride application reporting caries as an outcome were included. Articles in English, Spanish or Portuguese were included.

Oral health of patients with intellectual disabilities.

Data Sources: Medline, PubMed, Clinical Queries and PsychLIT.

Study Selection: The studies were evaluated independently by two reviewers and only included studies that had been published in English since 1975. The studies included had to meet three criteria; adult humans with mental retardation or a similar ID, had at least one quantitative measure of oral health status and the study compared the subjects to a control or comparison group without ID.