A new treatment alternative for sensitive teeth: a desensitizing oral rinse.

OBJECTIVE

Tooth sensitivity is a common, painful dental condition. Consumer dental products, mostly dentifrices, play an important role in sensitivity treatment. The objective of this review is to describe a new mouthwash-based desensitizing technology.

DATA

Background literature concerning desensitizing products is reviewed. Potassium salts are the most commonly used active ingredients in desensitizing dentifrices. Clinical studies show that while potassium salt dentifrices are generally effective; most formulations require several weeks to exert their desensitizing effect. Recently, a new desensitizing dentifrice containing the amino acid arginine was introduced. This dentifrice acts to occlude the dentinal tubules, and has been shown to be highly effective in multiple clinical studies. This arginine-containing dentifrice has also been shown to provide instant relief of sensitivity pain when applied directly to the sensitive tooth surface. In contrast to dentifrices, there are few desensitizing mouthwashes available. Building on the success of the arginine-based dentifrice, an arginine-based mouthwash formula was developed and tested.

SOURCES

Published studies in peer-reviewed publications.

STUDY SELECTION

Controlled and blinded clinical studies to provide evidence of efficacy. In vitro studies are included to indicate the mechanism of action. This review includes studies testing the new arginine-based desensitizing mouthwash.

CONCLUSION

Clinical findings indicate that this new desensitizing mouthwash, based on the Pro-Argin™ mouthwash technology effectively reduces sensitivity symptoms and can be used alone or as a adjunct to the use of the arginine-containing dentifrice in the home treatment of tooth sensitivity.