ArticleCritical care (London, England)2013
Oral care and pulmonary infection - the importance of plaque scoring.
Article in Critical care (London, England), 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Combination of toothbrushing and chlorhexidine compared with exclusive use of chlorhexidine to reduce the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia: A systematic review with meta-analysis.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil)Pooled it
- Impact of oral hygiene involving toothbrushing versus chlorhexidine in the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia: a randomized study.BMC infectious diseases · 2017Trial
- Oral Hygiene Interventions and Pneumonia Prevention in Critical Care: An Integrative Review of Evidence and Practice.International journal of dentistry · 2026Review
- Article
- Periodontal Status and Subgingival Biofilms in Cystic Fibrosis Adults.Polish journal of microbiology · 2019Article
- Microbial profiling of dental plaque from mechanically ventilated patients.Journal of medical microbiology · 2016Article
- Comparison of foam swabs and toothbrushes as oral hygiene interventions in mechanically ventilated patients: a randomised split mouth study.BMJ open respiratory research · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
- Comment on
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Improving the quality of oral hygiene is recognised as an important counter measure for reducing the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia amongst critically ill patients. Toothbrushing physically disrupts the dental plaque that acts as a reservoir for pulmonary infection and therefore has the potential to reduce the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia. Gu and colleagues performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of oral hygiene with and without a toothbrush and found no difference in the incidence of pneumonia in mechanically ventilated patients. The diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia is prone to bias and future studies of oral care interventions should focus on measures of oral cleanliness such as plaque and gingival scores. Once the optimal strategy for oral hygiene is defined in the critically ill, larger studies focussing on ventilator-associated pneumonia or mortality can be conducted.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.