A recent Dentistry digest,
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Study Type: Biographical obituary/historical profile (not original research).

Key Question: Not applicable. The article records the career and professional contributions of Derek Henderson (1935-2013), an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.

Key Findings:

• Henderson held senior posts at Canniesburn Hospital, Glasgow, and St Thomas' Hospital, London. At Canniesburn he developed an unusually collaborative partnership with neurosurgeons and plastic surgeons.
• He worked with Ian Jackson on the Le Fort II maxillary osteotomy and other facial operations, and devised trauma classification systems used for many years.
• He held several national leadership and training roles, including President of the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, Hunterian Professor, and first Kelsey Fry Advisor at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Clinical Relevance: This offers historical context on the multidisciplinary origins of UK maxillofacial trauma and craniofacial surgery, though it has no direct bearing on current clinical practice.

Limitations: Not applicable (biographical piece; the abstract contains no clinical data or methodology).

Study Type: Expert consensus curriculum document (working group recommendations); not original clinical research.

Key Question: What should a contemporary UK undergraduate oral and maxillofacial pathology syllabus contain, and how should it be delivered?

Key Findings:

• Replaces the 2004 BSOMP minimum curriculum, reflecting advances in diagnostics, newly recognised disease entities and regulatory changes.
• Aligned with current General Dental Council "Safe practitioner" requirements.
• Recommends interdisciplinary integration, digital pathology and case-based learning for delivery. The abstract gives no detail on specific syllabus content or on the methodology used.

Clinical Relevance: This will shape what newly qualified UK dentists are taught about oral pathology, which is relevant to educators, trainers and those supervising foundation dentists.

Limitations: The abstract does not describe the consensus methodology (e.g., formal Delphi process, external stakeholder input), so the robustness of the recommendations cannot be judged from it alone.

Study Type: Case report (two siblings) with literature review.

Key Question: How does familial florid cemento-osseous dysplasia (FFCOD) present clinically, radiographically and histologically, and what makes it difficult to diagnose and manage?

Key Findings:

• Both sisters had early-onset multifocal fibro-osseous jaw lesions that matured early, with multiple unerupted teeth.
• Differential diagnoses were excluded, including fibrous dysplasia, familial gigantiform cementoma, gnathodiaphyseal dysplasia, Paget's disease and hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumour syndrome.
• Conservative management is preferred, but unerupted teeth complicate lesion management and oral rehabilitation.

Clinical Relevance: In young patients with multifocal jaw lesions and a family history, consider FFCOD (autosomal dominant) and avoid unnecessary surgical intervention, with early specialist referral for diagnostic work-up.

Limitations: With only two related patients, the findings cannot establish typical disease course or evidence-based treatment strategies, as the authors acknowledge.

Study Type: Narrative review (non-systematic; no pooled analysis)

Key Question: What does the current evidence show on the accuracy, efficiency and acceptability of ambient voice technology (AVT) for clinical documentation in dentistry and wider healthcare?

Key Findings:

• Dental evidence is minimal: one study of AVT speech-to-text accuracy found reduced accuracy for dental terminology, plus clinically significant errors and hallucinations. No dental studies assessed AI-generated records or letters.
• Wider healthcare studies show variable accuracy, including errors with potential for harm.
• Implementation studies suggest reduced documentation time and burden, but effects were inconsistent, uptake varied between clinicians, and note length increased.
• Patients were broadly favourable, conditional on accuracy and privacy. (The abstract gives no quantitative effect sizes.)

Clinical Relevance: Practices considering AVT should recognise that clinicians remain responsible for the final record, so outputs need careful checking, which matters for medico-legal, GDPR and patient-trust obligations in UK practice.

Limitations: Narrative methodology with a very thin dental evidence base limits any firm conclusions about real-world dental use.

Study Type: Narrative commentary/policy analysis (not original empirical research; no stated methods).

Key Question: How did oral diseases come to be included in the UN's 2025 NCD political declaration, and what does this reveal about global health diplomacy?

Key Findings:

• Oral diseases were included through negotiation shaped by technical evidence, existing policy frameworks, advocacy, and geopolitical constraints.
• Consensus on adoption failed in September 2025; the declaration was adopted by majority vote in December, showing both fragile multilateralism and Member States' commitment to defending negotiated text.
• Oral diseases now have durable political recognition within the NCD agenda, but this is not yet matched by commitments on financing, delivery, or accountability.

Clinical Relevance: Global recognition does not itself change practice; any resulting improvement in oral health policy, funding, or access, including within NHS commissioning, depends on national implementation.

Limitations: As a commentary, the analysis is interpretive and offers no systematic or quantitative evidence on policy impact.

Study Type: Comparative cross-sectional study (n = 90)

Key Question: Do masseter and temporalis muscle thickness and stiffness, measured by ultrasound and strain elastography, differ between people with probable bruxism, those with bruxism plus myogenous TMD, and healthy controls?

Key Findings:

• Masseter thickness was significantly greater in bruxism with myogenous TMD (n = 30) than in controls and bruxism alone (n = 30), especially during maximal contraction (p < 0.05).
• Masseter elasticity ratios at maximal contraction were highest in bruxism with TMD (3.93 ± 2.23), then bruxism alone (2.98 ± 1.24), then controls (2.29 ± 0.87).
• Temporalis elasticity was also significantly raised in the bruxism-with-TMD group.

Clinical Relevance: Ultrasound and elastography offer a radiation-free way to objectively assess masticatory muscle changes, but they are not yet established in routine NHS dental practice.

Limitations: Analyses were unadjusted (no control for confounders), and the cross-sectional design with "probable" bruxism diagnosis prevents causal inference or diagnostic accuracy claims.

Study Type: Scoping review

Key Question: What facial scanners and smartphone scanning apps are used in dentistry, what is their validation and certification status, and what ethical and regulatory concerns have been raised?

Key Findings:

• 95 scanners and 23 smartphone apps were identified; 90 scanners and all apps had been clinically validated.
• Only 6 scanners (6%) were verifiably Medical Device Regulation (MDR) certified; 49% held other certifications and 51% had no verifiable certification status.
• Of 19,789 records screened, only six studies discussed ethical concerns (approval, consent, privacy, accuracy, regulatory obligations).

Clinical Relevance: UK practices adopting facial scanning for treatment planning should check a device's UKCA/CE medical device status and ensure patient consent and data protection (UK GDPR) are covered, as public certification information is often lacking.

Limitations: Certification status could not be verified for half the devices, and the review maps availability rather than assessing the clinical accuracy or safety of individual scanners.

Study Type: Clinical practice guideline summary (German S3-level, the highest evidence tier), based on a systematic literature search, multidisciplinary expert input and a structured consensus process.

Key Question: What dental care should form part of age-appropriate, long-term management for people with amelogenesis imperfecta, dentinogenesis imperfecta, ectodermal dysplasia, X-linked hypophosphatemia, hypophosphatasia or rare periodontal disorders?

Key Findings:

• 41 evidence- and consensus-based recommendations were produced, covering interdisciplinary collaboration, diagnostics (clinical, radiological, genetic), prevention, restorative and prosthetic care, and orthodontic and surgical interventions.
• Care should be tailored to the individual patient and delivered through interdisciplinary management.
• The authors describe this as the first evidence-based guideline for dental management of these conditions.

Clinical Relevance: Although German, it offers a structured reference for UK practitioners managing these rare conditions, where NHS care pathways are often inconsistent and patients are commonly seen in specialist or paediatric services.

Limitations: The abstract does not state the strength or quality of the underlying evidence, and the recommendations rely partly on consensus, so evidence for individual interventions is likely limited; the guideline is also not adapted to UK healthcare systems.