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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2025 Feb;23(1):63-72.
doi: 10.1111/idh.12835. Epub 2024 Jun 9.

Impact of air-polishing with erythritol on exposed root dentin: A randomized clinical trial

Anne Brigitte Kruse  1 , Ann-Sophie Burkhardt  1 , Kirstin Vach  2 , Elmar Hellwig  1 , Johan Peter Woelber  3 , Nadine Schlueter  4 , Petra Ratka-Krüger  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Impact of air-polishing with erythritol on exposed root dentin: A randomized clinical trial

Anne Brigitte Kruse et al. Int J Dent Hyg. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

Introduction: The effects of air-polishing on exposed root dentin surfaces are largely unknown, as there are only few studies which show heterogeneous results. Thus, this study was to investigate roughness changes of exposed dentin surfaces after air-polishing and the influence of subsequent polishing with cup and paste.

Methods: Totally 54 teeth with exposed root dentin surfaces were treated using a split-mouth design by either air-polishing with erythritol and a rubber cup with polishing paste on the test side, or rubber cup and paste alone. Teeth were finally cleaned using a sonic tooth brush. Impressions were taken at relevant time points and replicated using epoxy resin. The resulting casts were profilometrically analysed to obtain the average surface roughness (sRa) and maximum peak-to-valley height (sRz), which are given as the mean ± standard deviation in μm.

Results: After air-polishing, in comparison to the baseline, there was a slight but significant increase in sRa (0.168 ± 0.143, p < 0.001), but sRz did not change (-0.471 ± 4.857, p = 0.936). Subsequent polishing with cup and paste and cleaning with a sonic toothbrush did not reduce the surface roughness (sonic toothbrush-air-polishing, sRa -0.044 ± 0.081, p = 0.218; sRz -0.551 ± 3.563, p = 0.903).

Conclusion: The use of erythritol led to a slight increase in the roughness of the dentin surface, which was not reduced by polishing with a cup and paste. Polishing paste did not seem to conceal surface irregularities.

Keywords: professional mechanical plaque removal; profilometry; rubber cup polishing; surface roughness.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Consort flow diagram.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Study workflow.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Differences in sR a. Boxplots showing differences in sR a (in μm) between the air‐polishing, rubber cup and sonic toothbrush steps for the test group and between the rubber cup and sonic toothbrush steps for the control group in comparison to the baseline.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
sR a distribution. Mean sR a values (in μm) for each participant for the test and the control group teeth at the baseline and after the various treatment steps.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Differences in sR z. Boxplots showing differences in sR z (in μm) between air‐polishing/baseline, air‐polishing/rubber cup and rubber cup/sonic toothbrush for the test group and between rubber cup/baseline and rubber cup/sonic toothbrush for the control group.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
3D visualization of the profilometrical data. Depiction of surface roughness from two representative teeth at the baseline and after the air‐polishing, rubber cup and sonic toothbrush treatment steps in the test group (A–D) and at baseline and after the rubber cup and sonic toothbrush steps in the control group (E–G).
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