Eligible for inclusion were clinical trials evaluating haemostatic mouthwashes for patients taking oral anticoagulants and undergoing dental extraction, or oral surgery including extraction.
The included trials were conducted in Italy, Israel, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, or Australia. Where reported, patient age ranged from 19 to 93 years. Most trials included both single and multiple extractions. The patient's indications for oral anticoagulation, the oral surgeries performed, the treatment duration, and the patient's international normalised ratio (INR) target range on the day of surgery, varied. Most trials were of tranexamic acid mouthwashes (4.8% or 5%) with uninterrupted oral anticoagulation; one trial assessed epsilon aminocaproic acid mouthwash. Control conditions varied, including placebo mouthwash, interrupted oral anticoagulation, haemostatic mouthwash for a different duration, and gelatin sponge sutures or autologous fibrin glue (details reported in the paper).
The authors did not state how many reviewers selected studies for inclusion in the review.