A COMPARISON OF TRICLOSAN AND STANNOUS FLUORIDE TOOTHPASTES FOR INHIBITION OF PLAQUE REGROWTH - A CROSSOVER STUDY DESIGNED TO ASSESS CARRY-OVER

Some triclosan and stannous fluoride toothpastes have been shown effec tive in reducing plaque and more particularly gingivitis in home use s tudies. There have been few comparisons of such products for their che mical plaque inhibitory action divorced from the indeterminate variabl e of toothbrushing. This study was a randomised, single-blind, cross-o ver comparison of 4 products. in a 4-day plaque regrowth design, balan ced for residual effects and Involving 12 healthy dentate subjects, Th e test agents were a stannous fluoride toothpaste, a triclosan/copolym er toothpaste, a triclosan/zinc citrate toothpaste and water. On day 1 of each study period, subjects were rendered plaque free. For the fol lowing 4;lays, each subject suspended normal toothcleaning and rinsed 2x daily with the allocated treatment for 60 s under supervision. On d ay 5, plaque was scored by index. Washout periods of 2 1/2 days brushi ng with water alone, followed each treatment period, Pseudo treatment periods of 4 days, involving 2x daily rinsing with water in the absenc e of toothbrushing, followed the normal washouts after the stannous fl uoride and triclosan/zinc citrate treatments, giving a total of 6 trea tment periods. This design permitted analyses for 1st-order-carry-over . Intention to treat analyses revealed all toothpastes were more effec tive than water but that there were no differences between the active treatments. Per protocol analysis gave essentially similar findings ex cept that the difference in plaque in favour of the triclosan/zinc cit rate toothpaste over water did not reach significance. There was no ev idence of 1st-order-carry-over effects for the stannous fluoride or tr iclosan/zinc citrate toothpastes. Consistent with other studies it app ears that stannous fluoride and triclosan can be formulated into tooth paste vehicles to provide plaque inhibitory effects.