17
Volume3 Issue1
|
N
ews and
E
vents
Usingamouthrinsewith essential oils after toothbrushingprovides oral healthbenefits beyondbrushingalone, according toa study
published in the
1
Study Shows Clinical Benefits of Using
EssentialOil-ContainingMouthrinse
The researchers conductedameta-analysis toexamine
theeffectivenessof usingamouthrinsecontaining
afixedcombinationof 4essential oils (eucalyptol,
menthol, thymol andmethyl salicylate*) in reducing
gingivitis andplaque. Listerine® is theonlymouthrinse
brandon themarket that contains essential oils in this
combination. Resultswerecompared from2groups:
thosewhousedanessential oil-containingmouthrinse
2 times aday for 30 seconds inaddition to tooth
brushing, and thosewhoonlybrushed.Most of the
participants alsoflossed if itwas a requirement of the
studyor if itwaspart of their dailyoral hygiene routine.
Theanalysis includeddata from29 industry-sponsored
clinical trials andover 5,000 randomizedparticipants.
The studies included in theanalyseswereconducted
over 6monthsor longer.
According toDr. CarlosQuiñonez, associateprofessor
indental publichealthat theUniversityof Toronto, the
study results areclinically significant. “The resultsgive
youa senseof howmuchgainyoucanexpect for your
patientswith respect to thebenefit of usinganessential
oilsmouthrinseaboveandbeyond just toothbrushing,”
he says. “One thing that stoodout formewas the fact
that amongparticipantswho just brushed their teeth,
onlyabout 6%of themhadat least 50%plaque-free
sites, compared to roughly37%of individualswhoused
anessential oilsmouthrinseafter brushing.”
“Fromaclinical perspective, thedental team should
know that recommendinganessential oilsmouthrinse is
agood thing if one is concernedabout gingivitis,” adds
Dr. Quiñonez. “Therearegoing tobebenefits to those
individualswith respect toperiodontal outcomes.”
a
References
1. AraujoMW,CharlesCA,WeinsteinRB,McGuireJA,Parikh-DasAM,DuQ,etal.Meta-analysis
oftheeffectofanessentialoil-containingmouthrinseongingivitisandplaque.JAmDentAssoc.
2015;146(8):610-22.
Is this studybiased?The resultsarebasedonclinical trials sponsoredby
Johnson& Johnson (J& J), themanufacturersof Listerine®.Of the
9 studyauthors, 7areemployeesof J& J, 1wasanemployeeof
J& Jwhen thepaperwaswritten, and1 isaconsultant for J& J.
Weaskedanexpertpanel for itsopinion.Dr. JohnGunsolley (
JG
), isone
of the studyauthors, aprofessoratVirginiaCommonwealthUniversity
andaconsultant for J& J;Dr. JaneZhang (
JZ
) isalsoa studyauthor
anda researchmanager inGlobal ScientificEngagementat J& J; and
Dr. CarlosQuiñonez (
CQ
) isanassociateprofessor indental public
healthat theUniversityof Toronto.
JG:
Full disclosure, I’maconsultantwith J& J. Classically, there
are really2 sourcesofbias: the studies themselvesand themeta-
analysis, or thewayyouput it together. The studies in this
paper areall J& J studiesbut theprotocolsareconsistent
across thegroupof studies. Excluding studies isone
of themain sourcesofbiaswhenpeopleput studies
togetherbutwe included studies regardlessof their
outcomes.
JZ:
Iwant toadd that our individual study followedADA
guidelines for chemotherapeutical products for gingivitis
control. So thereare standardizedprocedures for every
studywe included in themeta-analysis.We included
all clinical studies thatwereconductedonmarketed
essential oilmouthrinseandhad individual-level data
for statistical analysis.
CQ:
For full disclosure, I amnot aconsultant for J& J. Bias is
present inall studies andof course industry support is something
researchers clearly lookat. But the level of rigourwithwhich this
studyappears tohavebeenconducted, the fact that
protocols andall the information from the studies
weremadeavailable toanybody thatwants them—
I think that speaks to the fact that,within reason,
biaseshavebeenminimized.
VisitOasisDiscussionstohearthefullpanel
discussion:
Apaneldiscussesthe issueofpossible
studybias
* InCanada,Listerine®declaresthreeessentialoils(eucalyptol,mentholandthymol)
asactive ingredientsasmethylsalicylate isclassifiedasanon-medicinal ingredient for
regulatoryreasons. IntheU.S.,all fouressentialoilsaredeclaredasactive ingredients.
