Traditional Chinese medicine and oral diseases: today and tomorrow

Oral Diseases (2010) 17 , 7–12 With a history of over 2000 years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) evolves into a unique system of diagnosing and treating illnesses. It is a challenge to convey the fundamentals of this traditional medicine to our Western colleagues because of the differences in language, philosophy and concept of diagnosis and treatment. This review attempts to tackle these barriers by introducing several widely used Chinese medicines for treating oral diseases. China Journals Full‐text Database and Pubmed were used as the searching engines. Although many studies have demonstrated that the Chinese medicines are effective in treating oral diseases including recurrent aphthous stomatitis, oral lichen planus, leukoplakia, and Sjögren’s syndrome, most of them lacked standard criteria of post‐treatment assessment and laboratory evidence. Randomized controlled clinical trials with specific assessment criteria are required to close the gap between TCM and evidenced‐based medicine.     

Guidelines for the management of traumatic dental injuries. I. Fractures and luxations of permanent teeth

Crown fractures and luxations occur most frequently of all dental injuries. An appropriate treatment plan after an injury is important for a good prognosis. Guidelines are useful for delivering the best care possible in an efficient manner. The International Association of Dental Traumatology (IADT) has developed a consensus statement after a review of the dental literature and group discussions. Experienced researchers and clinicians from various specialties were included in the group. In cases where the data did not appear conclusive, recommendations were based on the consensus opinion of the IADT board members. The guidelines represent the current best evidence, based on literature research and professional opinion. In this first article of three, the IADT Guidelines for management of fractures and luxations of permanent teeth will be presented.