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Abramson JD, Rosenberg HG et al. BMJ 2013; 347: f6123

Yet the 2013 Cochrane Review concluded that statins 'reduce all cause mortality and cardiovascular events without increasing the risk of adverse events among people at low risk of cardiovascular disease'. These prescribing guidelines are considerably broader than those made by the same body only two years earlier, and by NICE's 2006-08 guidance and the 2011 American Heart Association guideline. In this paper, the investigators calculated that for those at low risk of cardiovascular disease, 140 subjects were required to take statins for 5 years to prevent one heart attack or stroke. However, 20% of people who take statins, experience side effects that include muscle symptoms, increased risk of diabetes especially in women, liver inflammation and sexual dysfunction. Although dental practitioners do not have to have a detailed knowledge of the benefits and harms for those taking statins, they must be aware of drug interactions between statins and macrolides, and for specialists, interactions between statins and ketoconazole.