Objective To estimate the effect of desensitizing toothpaste containing arginine on dentine hypersensitivity. Methods Such databases as CNKI, PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Trials Register (Issue 4, 2008) were retrieved, and Google was used as a supplementary tool to search the information up to March 2010. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of treating dentine hypersensitivity with arginine-containing toothpaste were included, and the relevant information was extracted and the quality evaluation was undertaken. Meta-analyses were performed with RevMan 5.0 software. Results Five RCTs with 397 patients were included. The results of meta-analyses showed that at 8 weeks, arginine-containing toothpaste was significantly different from potassium-containing toothpaste in terms of tactile sensitivity test (SMD=1.32, 95%CI 0.68 to 1.96) and air blast test (SMD= –0.77, 95%CI –1.22 to 0.32) with a better therapeutic effect. Conclusion Current literature evidence shows that the arginine-containing toothpaste is effective for the dentine hypersensitivity. However, this study is based on a small number of RCTs and samples, so further studies with high-quality and large-sample RCTs are needed.
ObjectiveTo review the effects of desensitizing toothpaste containing NovaMin for dentine hypersensitivity. MethodsSuch databases as CNKI, WanFang Data, CBM, VIP, PubMed, Web of Science and The Cochrane Library (Issue 11, 2013) were searched, and meanwhile Google Scholar was used for supplementary search up to December 2013. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on treating dentine hypersensitivity with NovaMin-containing toothpaste were retrieved. Literature screening, data extraction and quality assessment were completed independently by two reviewers. Meta-analysis was then performed using RevMan 5.2 software. ResultsSix RCTs involving 283 patients (experiment:140 patients; control:143 patients) were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that at 4 weeks, NovaMin-containing toothpaste was significantly better than potassium-containing toothpaste in alleviating patients' cold sensitivity (SMD=-1.60, 95%CI-2.14 to-1.05, P=0.01) and air blast (SMD=-1.12, 95%-1.64 to-0.60, P=0.02). ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that, NovaMin-containing toothpaste is effective in treating dentine hypersensitivity, compared with other toothpaste that has been proved to be effective in clinic. However, due to the limited quantity and quality of the included studies, more high quality and large-sample RCTs are needed to further verify the above conclusion.