Trial reportInternational dental journal2018
Is it necessary to have a dentist within an intensive care unit team? Report of a randomised clinical trial.
Trial report in International dental journal, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07129733 (Oral Care Layered Enhancement for Improved Oral Hygiene in Intensive Care Units), which is not on this map. Cited by 14 papers.
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.
Oral Care Layered Enhancement for Improved Oral Hygiene in Intensive Care Units: A Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Oral mucositis as a pathway for fatal outcome among critically ill patients exposed to chlorhexidine: post hoc analysis of a randomized clinical trial.Critical care (London, England) · 2019Trial
- A Narrative Review of Oral Hygiene and Pulmonary Health Amid Dysphagia: Implications for Feeding Route, Nutrition, and Quality of Life.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Effect of antimicrobial oral rinse use on prognostic scores in critically ill patients.Brazilian oral research · 2026Article
- Oral hygiene management in critically ill patients: prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia.Frontiers in dental medicine · 2026Review
- Oral normality alterations and the impact on pneumonia, sepsis, and bloodstream infections in critically ill patients: a prospective cohort study.Critical care science · 2026Article
- Contribution of dental treatment to reducing mortality in the ICUs: a 6-year retrospective analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Assessment of oral health status in intensive care unit patients using quantitative light-induced fluorescence: a multicenter cross-sectional study.Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons · 2024Article
- Radiologic Evaluation of Oral Health Status in Patients Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit: A Multi-Institutional Retrospective Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- The association of oral health with length of stay and mortality in the intensive care unit.Clinical oral investigations · 2023Article
- A Dentist-Led Oral Care System Can Prevent Stroke-Associated Pneumonia: The Effects of Early Intervention by Dental Team.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2023Article
- The Effect of Professional Oral Care on the Oral Health Status of Critical Trauma Patients Using Ventilators.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Hospital Dentistry for Intensive Care Unit Patients: A Comprehensive Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
- Comparison of perceptions, attitudes and performance regarding collaborative oral health care among health-care workers.International dental journal · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of dental treatment in improving oral health in critical patients.
methodsThis randomised clinical trial was conducted in a general intensive care unit (ICU) at a tertiary care public facility from 1 January 2011 to 8 August 2013. Data from 254 adult patients staying in the ICU for 48 hours or more were analysed. The experimental group (n = 127) had access to dental treatment provided by a dentist four to five times a week, in addition to routine oral hygiene, whereas the control group (n = 127) had access only to routine oral hygiene, including topical application of chlorhexidine, provided by the ICU nursing staff. The baseline oral health status of the enrolled patients was poor and included edentulism, caries, gingivitis, periodontitis and residual roots. Dental treatment consisted of toothbrushing, tongue scraping, removal of calculus, scaling and root planing, caries restoration and tooth extraction.
resultsThe Oral Hygiene Index Simplified (OHI-S) and Gingival Index (GI) scores decreased in the experimental group but did not change significantly in the control group during the ICU stay. Dental treatment prevented most of the episodes of respiratory tract infections, as previously reported. No severe adverse events from the dental treatment were observed.
conclusionFrom an interprofessional perspective, our results support the idea of including dentists in the ICU team to improve oral health in critical patients and effectively prevent respiratory tract infections, in addition to the improvement achievable by applying chlorhexidine alone.
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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.