No abstract

Objectives The purpose of this systematic review was to assess whether flossing before or after influences plaque index reduction. Methods This systematic review was conducted according to the guidelines of the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta‐analyses and registered with the International prospective register of systematic reviews under number CRD42019126239. The PICO question was, ‘does flossing before or after brushing have any effect on reducing dental plaque?’. An electronic search was performed until April 2020 in the following databases: PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus Web of Science and Cochrane Library. The initial database search resulted in 9679 references, and after detailed analysis of the titles and abstracts of the selected studies, the inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied, and 06 complete articles were downloaded and selected for further analysis. After the complete 02 articles were selected, 60 patients with a mean age of 23.1 years were studied and compared dental flossing before or after dental brushing. Results The results showed that there was no statistical difference between brush‐floss and floss‐brush in reducing plaque index (p = 0.91, RR: 0.01, 95% CI: −0.16, 0.18). Conclusions Flossing before or after brushing has no significant effect on reducing dental plaque index. However, more clinical studies should be conducted.

SUMMARY Objective To evaluate the adhesion of universal adhesive systems to the dentin of noncarious cervical lesions (NCCLs) by comparing the etch-and-rinse and self-etch strategies through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods Systematic electronic searches were performed by two independent reviewers into the following databases: PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library until December of 2021. Only randomized clinical trials were selected, comparing etch-and-rinse and self-etch strategies and using universal adhesive systems in NCCLs. This systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines and registered into PROSPERO. Results After the removal of duplicates, 170 articles were identified. In an initial screening of titles and abstracts, 146 records did not satisfy the inclusion criteria and were, therefore, excluded. Twenty-four studies were eligible for evaluation of the full text, and four were excluded after this step. Finally, 20 randomized clinical trials were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Conclusion This systematic review and meta-analysis revealed that applying universal adhesive systems in the etch-and-rinse strategy could lead to better medium-term (>12 to 36 months) retention of NCCL restorations than the self-etch strategy, as well as resulting in lower percentages of marginal discoloration, marginal adaptation, and secondary caries. However, the use of a self-etching strategy can lead to lower postoperative sensitivity.