Title |
Dental Water Jets Are More Effective For Plaque Control In Adolescent Orthodontic Patients Than Manual Brushing And Flossing |
Clinical Question |
Are oral irrigators more effective than manual tooth brushing and flossing in reducing plaque in adolescent orthodontic patients? |
Clinical Bottom Line |
Oral irrigators were shown to reduce plaque more effectively than using floss/manual toothbrush in combination and manual toothbrush alone in adolescent orthodontic patients. |
Best Evidence |
|
PubMed ID |
Author / Year |
Patient Group |
Study type
(level of evidence) |
18405821 | Sharma/2008 | 105 adolescents ages 11-17 currently in orthodontic treatment with full-mouth brackets and archwires | RCT-single blind, parallel groups | Key results | While all three treatment groups showed statistically significant reductions in plaque index (P<.001), the dental water jet (DWJ) was statistically more effective at reducing whole-mouth and interproximal plaque at both 2 and 4 weeks than the floss (FL) and manual toothbrush (MT) methods (P<.001). The change (%) in whole-mouth PI scores at 4 weeks were 38.9 (DWJ), 10.3 (FL), and 6.7 (MT), and 36.2 (DWJ), 9.9 (FL), and 6.5 (MT) for inter-proximal plaque index scores at 4 weeks. | |
Evidence Search |
("Orthodontics"[Mesh] AND "Dental Devices, Home Care"[Mesh]) AND "Dental Plaque"[Mesh] |
Comments on
The Evidence |
The design had a representative patient sample with similar groups at baseline, and the examiners were blinded to patients’ group assignment. Follow-up time was sufficient for evaluating short-term results on plaque reduction, but the authors stated a need for longer duration to evaluate compliance with the hygiene instructions. |
Applicability |
The evidence of increased plaque reduction using oral irrigators in this representative study population can be applied to most adolescent orthodontic patients. The defining factor will be individual long-term compliance with the hygiene regimen. |
Specialty |
(General Dentistry) (Orthodontics) (Pediatric Dentistry) (Periodontics) (Dental Hygiene) |
Keywords |
Oral irrigator, plaque reduction, orthodontics
|
ID# |
2175 |
Date of submission |
03/19/2012 |
E-mail |
johnsonkn@livemail.uthscsa.edu |
Author |
Kristi Johnson |
Co-author(s) |
|
Co-author(s) e-mail |
|
Faculty mentor |
Jo Ann D. Jordan, BS |
Faculty mentor e-mail |
jordanj@uthscsa.edu |
|
|
Basic Science Rationale
(Mechanisms that may account for and/or explain the clinical question, i.e. is the answer to the clinical question consistent with basic biological, physical and/or behavioral science principles, laws and research?) |
None available | |
|
Comments and Evidence-Based Updates on the CAT
(FOR PRACTICING DENTISTS', FACULTY, RESIDENTS and/or STUDENTS COMMENTS ON PUBLISHED CATs) |
by Priscilla Barajas and Mark Marbach (San Antonio, TX) on 11/30/2017 I conducted a PubMed search on this topic in November 2017 and did not find a more recent study on this topic. The article used by the CAT is the highest level of evidence currently available. | |