Does the addition of cone-beam CT to panoral imaging reduce inferior dental nerve injuries resulting from third molar surgery? A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to examine whether cone-beam CT (CBCT) assessment influences the incidence of nerve injury following high-risk mandibular third molar (MTM) surgery. STUDY DESIGN: Randomised controlled trials comparing two and three-dimensional imaging for assessing high-risk MTMs were included. MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL and the Dentistry and Oral Science Source (DOSS) were systematically searched along with extensive grey literature searches, hand searching of web sites, and detailed citation searching up to 3 September 2022. Risk of bias was assessed against the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool (RoB 2.0). Certainty of the evidence was assessed using GRADE. RESULTS: Two authors independently screened 402 abstracts prior to full text screening of 27 articles, which culminated in seven RCTs for inclusion. Two studies were assessed as high risk of bias overall. The other five raised some concerns largely due to unblinded patients and lack of prior trial registration. Just one study reported significantly less nerve injuries following CBCT. The remaining six articles found no significant difference. CONCLUSION: The seven RCTs included in this systematic review offered moderate quality evidence that CBCT does not routinely translate to reduced incidence of nerve injury in MTM removal. A single study provided low quality evidence for a consequent change in the surgical approach. Low quality evidence from 3 studies suggested CBCT does not influence the duration of third molar surgery.

Which behaviour change techniques are most effective in improving healthcare utilisation in COPD self-management programmes? A protocol for a systematic review.

Introduction: Self-management interventions are often presented as a way to improve the quality of care for patients with chronic illness. However, self-management is quite broadly defined and it remains unclear which types of interventions are most successful. This review will use the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) as a lens through which to categorise self-management interventions regarding which programmes are most likely to be effective and under which circumstances.The aim of this study is to (1) describe the types of self-management programmes that have been developed in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and identify the common elements between these to better classify self-management, and (2) evaluate the effect that self-management programmes have on the healthcare behaviour of patients with COPD by classifying those programmes by the behaviour change techniques used. Methods and analysis: A systematic search of the literature will be performed in MEDLINE, EMBASE, HMIC and PsycINFO. This review will be limited to randomised controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies. The review will follow PRISMA-P guidelines, and will provide a PRISMA checklist and flowchart. Risk of bias in individual studies will be assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias criteria, and the quality of included studies will be evaluated using the GRADE criteria, and will be reported in a Summary of Findings table.The primary analysis will be a catalogue of the interventions based on the components of the TDF that were used in the intervention. A matrix comparing included behaviour change techniques to improvements in utilisation will summarise the primary outcomes. Ethics and dissemination: Not applicable, as this is a secondary review of the literature. Prospero registration number: CRD42018104753.