Towards evidence based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 2: Should bite guards be used with laryngeal mask airways in adults?

A shortcut review was carried out to establish whether bite blocks should be used when a laryngeal mask airway is used in the emergency department. Eighteen papers were found using the reported searches and a further eight were found by scanning the reference lists. Ten presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. It is concluded that bite guards should be used when laryngeal mask airways are employed in the emergency department. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.