Effectiveness of local hemostatic to prevent bleeding in dental patients on anticoagulation: A systematic review and network meta-analysis

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of hemostatic protocols to prevent bleeding in dental procedures among individuals undergoing oral anticoagulation therapy. A systematic review and network meta-analysis were accomplished. Searches of literature and grey literature were performed in different electronic databases. Clinical trials were considered as part of the inclusion criteria. Data extraction and assessment of the risk of bias of the included articles were performed. Assessment of the certainty of evidence was also performed. As results we find that the N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate [RR -35.00 (95% CI - 107.12, −5.78)], calcium sulfate (CaSO4) [RR -5.62 (95% CI -11.41, −1.03)], and tranexamic acid (TXA) [RR -3.46 (95% CI -7.63, −0.77)] showed beneficial effects compared to placebo. However, only TXA presented beneficial effects with moderate certainty evidence. N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate and CaSO4 presented very low certainty evidence. In the comparisons between the hemostatic agents, no differences were observed. For the mean bleeding time, no significant difference in the comparisons was observed as well. Concluding, bleeding events in individuals on oral anticoagulation decreased with the use of TXA compared to placebo. N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate and CaSO4 were also superior to placebo, but the certainty of evidence was low. For the mean bleeding time, no significant difference in hemostatic agents was observed.