ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate the antibacterial effect of electrolytically generated hypochlorous acid on Streptococcus gordonii, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Porphyromonas gingivalis. Material and Methods: In this in vitro experiment, the effect of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) on the strains S. gordonii, F. nucleatum, and P. gingivalis was evaluated using 4% sodium hypochlorite, 0.12% chlorhexidine, and distilled water as controls. The four groups were placed on each plate, and each group was replicated five times. The agar diffusion method by zones measurement was used. The data were processed with SPSS using the Kruskal-Wallis test and multiple comparison tests. Results: Hypochlorous acid showed an average inhibition halo of 9.28 mm on S. gordonii. As expected with distilled water, no zone of inhibition was noted for any of the bacteria, nor were zones of inhibition observed with HOCl for F. nucleatum and P. gingivalis. Conclusion: Hypochlorous acid showed antimicrobial properties against only S. gordonii and was less effective than 4% sodium hypochlorite and 0.12% chlorhexidine, although no significant differences were found between the latter.

Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) represent the highest level of experimental research according to levels of evidence. The findings of RCTs provide guidelines for choosing the best clinical treatment. Reason why it is a need to critically assess their methodology in order to show the accuracy.‘Risk of Bias’ is a tool developed by the Cochrane Collaboration to determine the quality of evidence in systematic reviews to be reliable for the individual analysis of the included RCTs. The present review aims to present the concepts of risk bias defining each of its items for the proper assessment of scientific articles.

Los ensayos clínicos aleatorizados (ECAs) presentan el nivel de investigación experimental más alto según los niveles de evidencia. Los resultados encontrados en ellos brindarán las pautas para la elección del mejor tratamiento clínico en los pacientes, es por ello la necesidad de conocer cuáles son las pautas para analizar críticamente los ECAs en la búsqueda de la precisión científi ca. El ‘Riesgo de Sesgo’ es una herramienta desarrollada por la “Cochrane Collaboration” para evaluar la metodología de la evidencia científica siendo útil en revisiones sistemáticas para el análisis individual de los ECAs incluidos. La presente revisión busca desarrollar los conceptos del ‘Riesgo de Sesgo’ defi niendo cada uno de sus componentes para el correcto análisis de los artículos científicos.