
Sebastiaan van Doornik
Short CV
Sebastiaan van Doornik is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Orthodontic Department of the University Medical Center Groningen and practices at a private practice in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In June 2024, he was honored with the prestigious Athanasios E. Athanasiou Postgraduate Student Research Award at the European Orthodontic Congress in Athens.
Throughout his dental education, he earned distinction by being accepted into the Honours Junior Scientific Masterclass. Notably, in 2014, he achieved the First Prize in the DENTSPLY Student Clinician Research Program (Scandinavia and Northern Europe).
Furthering his academic journey, Sebastiaan was selected for the Master Honours Program: Leadership – Making the Difference! Following a residency at the Paediatric Dentistry Department, he initiated his postgraduate program in orthodontics in 2019. Currently, he actively participates in various interdisciplinary research projects focused on (preventive) clinical practice guidelines and adverse events associated with orthodontic treatment.
Lecture: Effect of a plaque-identifying toothpaste on plaque amount in 12-16-year-olds with fixed orthodontic appliances: a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial.
Background:
Dental plaque accumulation poses risks to oral health, particularly in orthodontic patients undergoing fixed appliance therapy. Plaque-dyeing toothpaste is suggested to improve oral hygiene by increasing plaque visibility. This study evaluates the efficacy of such toothpaste in aiding plaque removal among adolescents undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment.
Aim:
To assess the effectiveness of plaque-dyeing toothpaste in reducing plaque in adolescents with fixed orthodontic appliances.
Research design:
A randomized, double-blind, active-comparator-trial was conducted at the Orthodontic Department, University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands. Recruitment was from October 2021 until January 2022. Eligible patients were healthy 12 – 16-year-olds undergoing buccal fixed appliances treatment in both jaws for at least three months and given oral hygiene instructions. After obtaining consent, seventy-seven adolescents, stratified on manual or electric brushing habits, were randomized to ether plaque-dyeing toothpaste or non-coloring control toothpaste. The primary outcome was the reduction in dental plaque
∆R30 threshold fluorescence from canine to canine assessed using Quantitative Light-induced Fluorescence (QLF) images at baseline (T0) and after approximately 4-6 weeks (T1). In addition, secondary outcomes comprised a questionnaire designed to gather self-reported participant experiences.
Results:
There was no statistically significant difference in plaque reduction between the two groups (F = 0.211, p = 0.647). Subgroup analyses showed no significant influence of patient-related factors on plaque reduction. However, participants using plaque-dyeing toothpaste reported a slightly stronger perception of plaque removal (p = 0.018) and encountered slightly more difficulty with the toothpaste color (p = 0.028). Compliance was good, and no adverse effects were reported.
Conclusions:
Use of plaque-dyeing toothpaste did not lead to statistically significant reductions in plaque scores. Its use only potentially enhanced participant engagement and awareness of oral hygiene practices.