Abstract
Objective: To compare the effectiveness of calcium alginate swabs and traditional cotton swabs in the control of blood loss after extraction of deciduous teeth from healthy children, aged 3-5 years, under general anaesthetic.
Design: Prospective, randomised clinical trial.
Setting: General anaesthetic suite in a dental teaching hospital.
Subjects: 101 patients were recruited to the study, comprising 50 randomised to be treated with cotton swabs and 51 with alginate swabs.
Interventions: Teeth were extracted under general anaesthesia and blood collected for measurement in order to compare blood loss using the two systems.
Main outcome measures: The number of teeth extracted ranged from 1-14. The total blood loss ranged from 0.53-78.13 ml with a median of 12.9 ml.
Conclusion: Calcium alginate swabs were not found to produce any clinical or statistical advantage over traditional cotton swabs in this surgical setting
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Henderson, N., Crawford, P. & Reeves, B. A randomised trial of calcium alginate swabs to control blood loss in 3-5-year-old children. Br Dent J 184, 187–190 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4809576
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4809576
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