The Cochrane Collaboration is an international organization that aims to help people make well‐informed decisions about healthcare by preparing, maintaining and promoting the accessibility of systematic reviews on the effects of healthcare interventions. The Cochrane Oral Health Group aims to produce systematic reviews which primarily include all randomized control trials (RCTs) of oral health, including prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of oral, dental and craniofacial diseases and disorders. The abstracts of these reviews can be accessd electronically at http://www.cochrane-oral.man.ac.uk. Full copies of the review papers can also be purchased via this website.
TheAustralian Dental Journal publishes selected abstracts in each issue for our readers' interest. A detailed description of the activities of the Cochrane Oral Health Group, written by the Review Group Co‐ordinator, Dr Emma Tavender, was published in the June 2004 issue of the Journal (Aust Dent J 2004;49:58–59). Also, for explanations of abbreviations and terminology please see Appendix 1 on page 59 of the aforementioned article.
EDITOR
OBJECTIVE Identify types, prevalence and severity of periodontal changes associated with HIV infection. DESIGN: Cross‐sectional controlled blinded study. SETTING: Open access genito‐urinary medicine clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of 794 homosexual men aged 18–65.
OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence, extent and severity of probing attachment loss (PAL), pocketing, gingival ulceration, gingivitis, bleeding on probing (BOP), gingival red bands and diffuse and punctate erythema of the attached gingiva (selected a priori).
RESULTS: Prevalences in men with (n = 312) and without HIV (n = 260) were: PAL (≥l site ≥4 mm), 59.6% and 28.5% respectively (P < 0.001. x2); pocketing (≥1 site ≥4 mm) 51.0% and 31.9% (P < 0.001); BOP, 96.5% and 92.3% (P = 0.038); gingival ulceration. 3.2% and 1.0% (P = 0.031), red banding, 12.2% and 10.0% (P = 0.410); diffuse erythema, 12.5% and 3.1% (P < 0.001) and punctate erythema, 9.6% and 1.1% (P < 0.001). Decreased CD4 lymphocyte counts predicted the presence, extent and severity of PAL (P = 0.023, 0.027 and 0.060) but not pocketing. Oral candidiasis predicted the extent and severity of gingivitis and the presence of diffuse and punctate erythema (P = 0.037, 0.011, 0.002 and <0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: Destruction of periodontal attachment is associated with progression of HIV disease whereas pocketing is associated with HIV infection but not disease progression. Gingival ulceration is associated with HIV but gingivitis and erythema of the attached gingiva are most strongly associated with oral candidiasis. Gingival red bands were not associated with HIV infection.
Background: Powered brushes were first introduced commercially in the 1960s. A recent systematic review suggested the superiority of certain modes of powered over manual toothbrushing for plaque and gingivitis reduction. That review did not allow for direct comparison between different modes of powered toothbrush. Objectives: To compare different modes of powered toothbrushing against each other for plaque reduction and the health of the gingivae. Other factors to be assessed were calculus and stain removal, cost, dependability and adverse effects. EBSCO (1982 to 26 July 2010. There were no language restrictions. Selection criteria: Trials were considered for inclusion with the following criteria: random allocation of participants; no compromised manual dexterity; unsupervised powered toothbrushing for at least four weeks. The primary outcomes were the plaque and gingivitis scores after powered toothbrush use during trial period. Data collection and analysis: Data extraction was performed independently and in duplicate. The authors of trials were contacted to provide missing data where possible. The effect measure for each meta-analysis was
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