Beneficial effects seen with most desensitising toothpastes

PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled trials (CENTRAL) in Cochrane Library and Embase. A manual search of the relevant articles was also applied to identify additional studies. Only articles published in English were selected. Contact with the author of a study was attempted if there was insufficient information in publication.

Two authors independently assessed the eligibility of all studies retrieved from the databases. Only randomised controlled trials reporting the effect of toothpaste on dentine hypersensitivity were included.

Two authors independently abstracted data and bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration tool for risk of bias. Standardised mean differences and 95% confidence intervals were calculated and random effects meta-analysis conducted.

Thirty-one RCTs involving a total of 2436 patients were included. A majority of studies (23) were considered to be of moderate quality, three of high quality and five of low quality. Meta-analysis showed that five of the toothpastes had a desensitising effect with only strontium-containing toothpastes having no significant effect.

The review found sufficient evidence to support the use of potassium-, stannous fluoride-, calcium sodium phosphosilicate- and arginine-containing desensitising toothpaste for dentine hypersensitivity. It found no significant desensitising effect difference between strontium-containing toothpaste and a placebo.