A systematic scoping review of color evaluation methods of recently published tooth bleaching clinical trials.

Purpose: This systematic scoping review aimed to survey the literature to answer the following questions: which instruments were used to measure the color change; which teeth were assessed for color; what was the follow-up period, and in which country was the recently published tooth bleaching clinical trial performed?

Methods: This research was registered in the Open Science Framework. The following databases were searched: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and LILACS. Randomized clinical trials evaluating tooth bleaching with color change analysis, published between 2021 and 2017, were included. The data extracted from included studies were analyzed using a qualitative and descriptive analysis.

Results: 106 articles were analyzed. Most studies used only ΔEab to measure the color change (10.4%), assessed the color change in the maxillary central incisors (45.3%), and included a one-month follow-up (25.4%). The published papers were mostly from research performed in Brazil (51.9%). Many methods have been used in the tooth bleaching clinical trials examined, and a wide variety of instruments used to measure the color change was observed.

Clinical significance: The large variation in the methodology criteria of most recent tooth bleaching clinical trials makes data comparison difficult among different studies and raises the need for a guideline for tooth bleaching clinical studies.