Sir, I refer to the article by G Hoad-Reddick in BDJ 2004, 197: 9, which made an interesting change from purely clinical topics. However, for a peer-reviewed journal, I am concerned that too many of the statements in the article appeared to be speculative, while the concluding points seemed particularly contentious.

Although this is an Opinion piece, the paragraphs about life-stages contain a lot of statements without references – when they could have been backed up with evidence or dropped.

This applies, for example, to the statement that problems overseeing pre-adolescent children's oral hygiene 'may cause stresses to affect the relationship between parent and child'. Do we know?

The suggestion that the Mona Lisa's enigmatic non-smile was caused by her hiding her dental decay seems distinctly out of place in a scientific journal.

If I were to speculate, it might be that her teeth were not unusually decayed, but that her composed features reflect the days before Hello magazine when grinning for portraits was a great deal less fashionable.

The statements that middle-aged women 'may' report tooth decay during pregnancy, and that 'possibly during pregnancy women neglect tooth cleansing and are unaware of dental problems until they have time to themselves when children are older' also need some kind of back-up.

Pregnancy can have an effect on gum health, but this is not mentioned. The assertion that these women 'may start to question whether their appearance has declined and attend for treatment hoping their looks can be restored' left me dubious. Is there qualitative research to show this?

The final paragraph causes me most concern. How does the author know that 'it seems certain that practitioners who focused their practice in this way would have greater fulfilment in their work and thus would provide maximum benefit to patients'? Just saying it doesn't make it true, never mind the practicalities of delivering counselling within the financial and time constraints of NHS dentistry!

Most worryingly, the final sentence acknowledges that research is needed, but then seems to predetermine what the conclusions will be: 'If appropriate evidence-based research were conducted, the importance of this approach would be recognised'.

The counselling approach could just as easily discredited – the role of independent research is to find out whether it an intervention is beneficial or not, not to prove a point that has already been decided.

We would like to apologise for an omission in the letters page in BDJ 197:12. The letter entitled 'Editorial control' should also have been co-signed by A. Blinkhorn. We apologise for this oversight.