Comparison of Clinical Efficacy of Pro-Argin and NovaMin Toothpastes in Relieving Dentin Hypersensitivity: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Purpose: To compare the clinical efficacy of toothpastes containing Pro-Argin and NovaMin as dentin hypersensitivity (DH) treatment. Materials and Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis based on PRISMA was conducted (PROSPERO registration CRD42018095367). Electronic searches were performed in Pubmed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Virtual Health Library and Open Grey until June 2018, with the terms [pro-argin OR arginine] AND [novamin OR calcium sodium phosphosilicate OR calcium sodium phospho silicate]. Randomised and non-randomised clinical trials comparing DH reduction in adults given Pro-argin-containing toothpastes and NovaMin-containing toothpastes were included. Study selection and quality assessment with Cochrane tool were performed. In the meta-analysis, the comparison between desensitising toothpastes was assessed by standardised mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Certainty of evidence was evaluated with GRADE. Results: Five studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. In four included studies, a reduction in the DH under tactile stimulus between baseline and post-application times for both toothpastes was demonstrated. Three studies were suitable for meta-analysis. No statistically significant difference between the two toothpastes for DH reduction was observed at immediate (SMD = -1.05, CI = -3.52;1.41), 2-week (SMD = -0.55, CI = -2.59;1.48) and 4-week (SMD = -0.49, CI = -2.78;1.81) follow-up. Certainty of the evidence was very low. Included studies presented a high risk of bias. Conclusions: Pro-argin-containing and NovaMin-containing toothpastes showed effectiveness for DH reduction. No statistically significant difference between the two toothpastes was found. Thus, both can be prescribed to treat DH in adults with equivalent effectiveness up to four weeks. Keywords: dentin desensitising agents, dentin hypersensitivity, Novamin, Pro-Argin, toothpastes