1.

Data extraction from comparisons with single trials

Comparison	Outcome	Study	Mean Difference (MD) / Risk Ratio (RR) (95%CI)
1. Maintaining health: self administered mechanical: powered versus manual toothbrushing (6 weeks)	1. Modified plaque index (Mombelli)	Tawse‐Smith 2002	MD 0.10 [‐0.66, 0.86] Favours manual P = 0.80
2. Maintaining health: self administered antimicrobials: hyaluronic acid versus CHX gel (6 months)	1. Modified plaque index (Mombelli)	Araujo Nobre 2007	MD ‐0.47 [‐1.08, 0.14] Favours hyaluronic P = 0.13
	2. Modified bleeding index (Mombelli)	Araujo Nobre 2007	MD 0.20 [‐0.28, 0.68] Favours hyaluronic P = 0.41
	3. Change in probing pocket depth	Araujo Nobre 2007	MD 0.00 [‐0.65, 0.65] P = 1.00
3. Maintaining health: self administered antimicrobials: amine fluoride/stannous fluoride versus CHX (3 months)	1. Change in taste (visual analog scale)	Horwitz 2005	MD ‐0.55 [‐1.02, ‐0.08] Favours fluoride P = 0.02*
	2. Staining index	Horwitz 2005	MD 0.06 [‐0.10, 0.22] Favours CHX P = 0.46
	3. Patient satisfaction (desire for future use: visual analog scale)	Horwitz 2005	MD 2.08 [1.52, 2.64] Favours fluoride P < 0.001*
	4. Implant failure	Horwitz 2005	RR 0.28 [0.01, 6.43] Favours fluoride P = 0.42
4. Maintaining health: professionally: phosphoric etching gel versus mechanical debridement (5 months)	1. Silness and Loe plaque index	Strooker 1998	MD 0.00 [‐0.33, 0.33] P = 1.00
	2. Change in probing pocket depth	Strooker 1998	MD 0.28 [‐1.97, 2.53] Favours phosphoric P = 0.81
5. Maintaining health: professionally: CHX versus physiologic solution enclosed in implants (6 weeks)	1. Modified plaque index (Mombelli) (6 weeks)	Groenendijk 2004	MD 0.00 [‐0.48, 0.48] P = 1.00
6. Recovering health: self administered mechanical: sonic versus manual toothbrush (6 months)	1. Silness and Loe plaque index	Wolff 1998	MD ‐0.14 [‐0.47, 0.19] Favours sonic P = 0.41
	2. Change in probing pocket depth	Wolff 1998	MD 0.08 [‐0.64, 0.80] Favours sonic P = 0.83
	3. Patient satisfaction (liked toothbrush)	Wolff 1998	RR 1.48 [1.03, 2.13] Favours sonic P = 0.04*
	4. Ease of maintenance (easy or very easy to use)	Wolff 1998	RR 0.94 [0.79, 1.12] Favours manual P = 0.49
7. Recovering health: self administered antimicrobials: Listerine versus placebo (3 months)	1. Turesky plaque index	Ciancio 1995	MD ‐0.88 [‐0.93, ‐0.83] Favours Listerine P < 0.001*
	2. Ainamo and Bay marginal bleeding	Ciancio 1995	MD ‐0.20 [‐0.25, ‐0.15] Favours Listerine P < 0.001*
	3. Probing attachment level	Ciancio 1995	MD 0.07 [‐0.11, 0.25] Favours Listerine P = 0.43
	4. Probing pocket depth	Ciancio 1995	MD 0.15 [0.06, 0.24] Favours placebo P = 0.001*
8. Recovering health: self administered antimicrobials: CHX irrigation versus CHX mouthwash (3 months)	1. Turesky plaque index	Felo 1997	MD ‐0.20 [‐0.24, ‐0.16] Favours irrigation P = < 0.001*
	2. Ainamo and Bay marginal bleeding	Felo 1997	MD ‐0.17 [‐0.19, ‐0.15] Favours irrigation P = < 0.001*
9. Recovering health: self administered: triclosan vs fluoride dentifrice (6 months)	1. Plaque presence	Ramberg 2009	MD ‐7.50 [‐17.52, 2.52] Favours triclosan P = 0.14
	2. Change in probing pocket depth ?4mm	Ramberg 2009	MD 0.30 [‐0.06, 0.66] Favours triclosan P = 0.10
10. Recovering health: professionally administered: mechanical debridement plus topical minocycline versus CHX gel (12 months)	1. Change in probing pocket depth	Renvert 2004	MD 0.30 [‐0.17, 0.77] Favours minocyline P = 0.21
	2. Mean plaque score	Renvert 2004	MD 6.00 [‐9.07, 21.07] Favours CHX P = 0.44
	3. Soreness in the gums (10 days)	Renvert 2004	RR 5.00 [0.66, 38.15] Favours CHX P = 0.10
	4. Change in probing pockets depth worst sites	Renvert 2004	MD 0.40 [‐0.28, 1.08] Favours minocyline P = 0.25
11. Recovering health: professionally administered: Titanium curette versus ultrasonic device (6 months)	1. Change in probing pocket depth	Renvert 2009	MD ‐0.40 [‐1.14, 0.34] Favours hand P = 0.29
	2. Mean plaque score	Renvert 2009	MD 5.00 [‐21.21, 31.21] Favours ultrasonic P = 0.71

* bold and shading = statistically significant