Air-Flowing With Plaque Disclosing Removed the Most Plaque in Pediatric Trial

Edited by Hygienetown staff

Combining a plaque disclosing agent with erythritol-based air-flowing removed significantly more plaque in children than three other professional cleaning approaches, according to a randomized controlled trial published online Oct. 8 in the International Journal of Dental Hygiene. The comparison approaches were air-flowing alone and rubber cup polishing with or without disclosing.

Researchers randomly assigned 120 children ages 6–12 to one of four professional mechanical plaque removal methods:

• air-flowing with plaque disclosing

• air-flowing alone

• rubber cup and polishing paste with plaque disclosing

• rubber cup and polishing paste alone

After treatment, the disclosing agent was reapplied. Residual plaque on the anterior vestibular sextants was measured by computer-assisted photographic analysis, and full-mouth plaque scores were recorded. The researchers also timed each treatment and collected feedback from patients and clinicians through structured questionnaires.

Air-flowing with disclosing produced significantly lower residual plaque area and full-mouth plaque scores than all three other methods. Rubber cup polishing alone took significantly less time but was the least effective at removing plaque.

All four approaches were rated positively. Both the children and the clinicians preferred the air-flowing methods.

The authors concluded that combining plaque disclosing with air-flowing significantly enhances plaque removal in pediatric patients while improving the treatment experience for patients and clinicians. They suggested it may be a valuable adjunct to pediatric preventive protocols.

Magda Mensi, Eleonora Scotti, Silvia Marchetti, and colleagues at the University of Brescia and ASST Spedali Civili di Brescia in Italy conducted the trial, which was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov.

The abstract does not report effect sizes, and the primary plaque measurement covered only the anterior vestibular sextants.

Sources:
International Journal of Dental Hygiene, “Air-Flowing and Plaque Disclosing for Professional Biofilm Removal in Paediatric Patients: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial of Four Techniques,” published online Oct. 8, 2026: doi.org/10.1111/idh.70175
PubMed, PMID 42850746: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42850746