JCP Digest: Toothpaste with stannous fluoride shows promise in treating dental hypersensitivity

The use of an experimental toothpaste containing stannous fluoride has shown promising results in reducing dental hypersensitivity, according to a study summarised in the latest issue of JCP Digest.

Researchers evaluated three blinded, randomised trials that each compared two treatments – a test toothpaste with 0.454% stannous fluoride and a control toothpaste with 0.76% sodium monofluorophosphate – on a total of 667 patients.

The toothpastes were applied first with the fingertips to teeth with hypersensitivity and then used in normal tooth-brushing for three days.

As JCP Digest issue number 71 reports, the results showed a statistically significant reduction in dental hypersensitivity with both treatments, but the test toothpaste achieved better results in two of the three studies in terms of both Schiff scores on sensitivity and tactile-threshold scores.

Researchers concluded that the tested toothpaste formula could provide benefit to patients who suffer from dental hypersensitivity.

The original research, published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology (JCP)in November 2019, was carried out by researchers in the UK and India. The fact that the study was sponsored by a toothpaste manufacturer – GSK Consumer Healthcare – that also provided several of its researchers was a potential conflict of interest.

Other limitations included the short follow-up time and various factors ­– repeated painful stimulation, the “Hawthorne effect”, placebo/nocebo effects, and the episodic nature of dentine hypersensitivity ­– that might influence the outcomes.

This issue of JCP Digest was summarised by postgraduate students at the EFP-affiliated programme in periodontology at the University of Turin, Italy.