Do e-cigarettes have a part to play in peri-implant diseases?

Baniulyte G, Ali K. Evid Based Dent 2023; 24: 7-8.

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The effects that smoking cigarettes have on smokers' general health has been well documented. However, as e-cigarettes are relatively new, there is limited long-term data to accurately assess their impact on certain oral diseases and conditions. This is why we set up the new EBD collection 'Smoking Cessation' (https://www.nature.com/collections/gjcddfdhed), in which this article is included, which aims to look specifically at the damage to oral health from both smoking and vaping, plus the risks/benefits of the latter, and which is currently open to submissions.

The Systematic Review being evaluated in this article aims to review the effect of e-cigarette use on clinical, radiographic, and immunologic peri-implant parameters in male patients. The authors of this Comment note that the findings show e-cigarettes users to have statistically significant increases in radiographic bone loss around implants, a greater plaque index, higher percentage of periodontal depth over 4 mm and an increase in pro-inflammatory markers compared to never-smokers. However, the authors gave this article a 'low' GRADE rating due to certain limitations.

Find out their reasons why here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41432-023-00864-w

Global status of knowledge of parents for emergency management of traumatic dental injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Tewari N, Goel S, Srivastav S et al. Evid Based Dent 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41432-023-00883-7.

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This innovative Systematic Review asserts itself as being the first ever evidence analysis of the global status of awareness related to prevention and emergency management of traumatic dental injuries (TDIs). The authors bring together evidence regarding the extent of parental knowledge, in terms of how best to care for children's teeth in the event of a TDI, and conclude that the majority of parents from these studies were interested in obtaining information about dental trauma first aid.

In addition to reporting these results, the authors note that the methodology used could be useful for public health researchers performing systematic reviews of questionnaire-based studies, and that the findings of their meta-analysis could be useful for developing educational tools and modules for parents. They also state that the results could be useful for policymakers with regards to effective policies for prevention and emergency management of TDIs, though they do demonstrate that there remains a significant knowledge gap which dental professionals should take into consideration.

Read this Systematic Review to find out the overall results: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41432-023-00883-7. If you would like to publish your own Systematic Review, consider submitting it to EBD today. More information can be found at: www.nature.com/ebd/for-authors/systematic-reviews.