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Little evidence available for the effectiveness of arginine-containing toothpastes in managing dentine hypersensitivity

Derek Richards

Last year we looked at a number of studies that looked at the effectiveness of various toothpastes in reducing dentine hypersensitivity (Dental Elf 30th October 2012).  The aim of this review was to assess the effectiveness of arginine-containing desensitising toothpastes in comparison to control agents in reducing dentine hypersensitivity (DH).   The aetiology of DH is usually reported as multifactorial and while this review focuses on the use of arginine containing pastes it also provides a useful table of the various desensitizing agent together with the mechanism of action.

The reviewers searched the Medline, Cochrane Central, Embase and Lilacs databases  for randomised and controlled clinical trials. The primary outcome considered was change in pain/sensitivity reported by tactile and air-blast stimuli.  Study selection, data extraction, quality assessment and risk of bias assessment was conducted independently in duplicate.

  • Only two studies involving 243 patients in total were included.
  • Both studies were conducted by the same team.
  • One study was of 3 days duration the other of 8 weeks.
  • Both studies reported greater improvement in DH with the arginine paste.

The authors concluded

Data identified indicates a potential role for arginine-containing toothpastes in managing dentine hypersensitivity. However, this conclusion is based on small sample sizes and the studies identified did not follow patients up in the medium to long term. The authors recommend that there is a need for well-designed RCTs to be conducted prior to any definitive recommendations being made.

Links

Sharif MO, Iram S, Brunton PA. Effectiveness of arginine containing toothpastes in treating dentine hypersensitivity: A systematic Review. J Dent. 2013 Jan 31. doi:pii: S0300-5712(13)00027-4. 10.1016/j.jdent.2013.01.009. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 23376174.

Dental Elf 30th Oct 2012 – Trial shows improvements in dentine hypersensitivity with different toothpastes


 

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Written by

Derek Richards is a specialist in dental public health, Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Dentistry and Specialist Advisor to the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) Development Team. A former editor of the Evidence-Based Dentistry Journal and chief blogger for the Dental Elf website until December 2023. Derek has been involved with a wide range of evidence-based initiatives both nationally and internationally since 1994. Derek retired from the NHS in 2019 remaining as a part-time senior lecturer at Dundee Dental School until the end of 2023.

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  • Douglas Badenoch

    Douglas Badenoch

    13 years ago
    devizio, you raise an important point. It is essential that, in order to make informed decisions about health care, all of the relevant research data is fully disclosed in a transparent way. Can you point us towards these studies so that they can be evaluated?
    • 1 reply
    • devizio
      devizio 13 years ago
      As indicated above type "arginine toothpaste" into PubMed search engine. Thank you for your consideration
  • DeVizio

    DeVizio

    13 years ago
    As a disclaimer, I work for Colgate. I am disappointed to see this type of information conveyed without a more complete and thorough review of the literature including sponsored and non-sponsored research conducted by Colgate and our competition. These studies clearly demonstrate the efficacy of the product and support all claims as to efficacy. I would be happy to further and clarify if that would be beneficial
    • 1 reply
    • Derek
      Derek 13 years ago
      The review by Sharif et al refereed to in this blog conducted a detailed search of four large databases to identify and randomised controlled trials to test the efficacy of arginine toothpastes. In addition they also conducted searches of the World Health Organization’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, the Current Clinical Trials Register and the Clinical Trials.gov databases were searched to identify any ongoing trials. I consider this to be a robust search of the literature and yet only two randomised controlled trial were identified.
      • devizio
        devizio 13 years ago
        As indicated I believe there are additional published studies that were not included in the search. That information needs to be considered in order to ensure that readers are being exposed to all available data. If the readers type in "arginine toothpaste" into Pub Med over 30 relevant references would appear. The vast majority have been peer reviewed.