A randomised trial of calcium alginate swabs to control blood loss in 3-5-year-old children

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 lot 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 mi with a median of 12.9 mi. Conclusion Calcium alginate swabs were not found to produce any clinical or statistical advantage over traditional cotton swabs in this surgical setting.