Does flossing before or after brushing influence the reduction in the plaque index? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this systematic review was to assess whether flossing before or after influences plaque index reduction.

Methods: This systematic review was conducted according to the guidelines of the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses and registered with the International prospective register of systematic reviews under number CRD42019126239. The PICO question was, 'does flossing before or after brushing have any effect on reducing dental plaque?'. An electronic search was performed until April 2020 in the following databases: PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus Web of Science and Cochrane Library. The initial database search resulted in 9679 references, and after detailed analysis of the titles and abstracts of the selected studies, the inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied, and 06 complete articles were downloaded and selected for further analysis. After the complete 02 articles were selected, 60 patients with a mean age of 23.1 years were studied and compared dental flossing before or after dental brushing.

Results: The results showed that there was no statistical difference between brush-floss and floss-brush in reducing plaque index (p = 0.91, RR: 0.01, 95% CI: -0.16, 0.18).

Conclusions: Flossing before or after brushing has no significant effect on reducing dental plaque index. However, more clinical studies should be conducted.

Keywords: dental floss; dental plaque; systematic review/meta-analysis; toothbrushing.