Overnight Anti-Plaque Benefits of Two Marketed Dentifrices using DPIA

Objectives: This research evaluated overnight anti-plaque efficacy of a stannous containing sodium fluoride dentifrice compared to a chlorhexidine digluconate containing aluminum fluoride dentifrice using an objective Digital Plaque Image Analysis (DPIA).

Methods: This study was a randomized, 4-period crossover design, which examined overnight anti-plaque efficacy of two dentifrices: a) Oral-B Blend-a-med Pro Expert Rundumschutz (PER) and b) Lacalut Aktiv (LA). After a 2-week acclimation period subjects were randomly assigned to one of four treatment sequences and instructed to brush teeth thoroughly twice a day (morning and evening) for the treatment periods. Each treatment period was 17 days in duration and followed by a 4-day wash-out period. ANOVA for crossover designs was used to analyze for treatment differences of overnight plaque.

Results: 36 healthy subjects from a general adult population with the evidence of overnight plaque were enrolled and all of them completed the study. Mean age was 29 years ranging from 18-58, 69% of subjects were female. After 17 days of product use the mean overnight plaque was 18.2% for PER and 19.7% for LA dentifrice. Treatments differed significantly (p<0.05) favoring PER with a relative difference of 7.9% versus LA.

Conclusions: The stannous containing sodium fluoride PER dentifrice had statistically significantly lower overnight plaque level than the chlorhexidine digluconate containing aluminum fluoride dentifrice (LA) after 17 days of product use.