Plaque Viability Comparison Of 3 Commercial Dentifrices

Objectives: To examine the effect of three commercial dentifrices on dental plaque viability following a single brushing.

Methods: Thirty two healthy volunteers were recruited for a double blind cross over clinical study.  Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three products:   product  T (Colgate Great Regular   -0.83% MFP), product  D (Crest Pro Health Clean Mint - 0.454% SnF₂) and product  H  (Colgate Total Clean Mint (0.03% triclosan/copolymer/0.22%NaF).  Following a 1 week  washout period, subjects reported to the clinic following no oral hygiene  for 24 hours, donated a baseline plaque sample.  Subsequently  subjects brushed the left side of the mouth with the assigned dentifrice for 45 seconds.  They swished the slurry around the unbrushed right side for 15 seconds and expectorated.  Subjects returned 12 hours later to donate a second plaque sample.  When subjects completed the second plaque donation they re-entered  the washout phase as per the cross over design.  This clinical procedure was repeated until all products were tested.  Plaque samples were subjected to a plaque viability assay (Triratana et al.)

Results: 32 subjects completed the study. No adverse events were reported.  Baseline percent plaque viability scores for products T,D,H  respectively were 89.82 + 1.44, 90.31+8.65, 90.28+7.82.  Twelve hour scores were 90.06+2.17, 49.80+7.29, 40.77+11.56 respectively.  An ANOVA comparison found no statistically significant differences at baseline and all products were significantly different from each other at 12 hours (p<0.05).  A Tukey comparison found T, D, and H to be significantly different from each other (p<0.001)

Conclusions: Both the triclosan/copolymer and stannous fluoride dentifrices delivered a reduction in plaque viability at 12 hours as compared to a regular fluoride dentifrice. The triclosan/copolymer formulation resulted in further reduction of the dental plaque viability as compared to the stannous fluoride dentifrice suggesting  the triclosan/copolymer formulation provided an enhanced benefit for plaque control.