AN 18-WEEK HOME-USE STUDY COMPARING THE ORAL HYGIENE AND GINGIVAL HEALTH BENEFITS OF TRICLOSAN AND FLUORIDE TOOTHPASTES

Several triclosan and stannous fluoride toothpastes have been shown to have plaque inhibitory and more particularly gingival health benefits when compared to minus active controls. There have been relatively fe w studies to compare such products with conventional fluoride toothpas tes in home use. The aim of this study was to compare the relative gin gival health benefits of a triclosan/zinc citrate, triclosan/copolymer , stannous fluoride and conventional fluoride toothpastes in a home us e study. The study was a double blind, parallel design with a total 14 3 healthy dentate volunteers (41 male, 102 female) who toothbrushed 2x daily with 1 of 4 toothpastes over an 18 week period. At the beginnin g of the trial, each volunteer was scored for plaque and gingivitis an d then received a thorough prophylaxis. Each volunteer was allocated a toothpaste according to a predetermined randomisation scheme. The vol unteers were then re-examined after 6, 12 and 18 weeks. No other oral hygiene products were used during this period. The results showed no s tatistically significant treatment differences between products for th e gingival index throughout the 18 week-trial. No statistically signif icant treatment effects between products for plaque index were found a t 6 or 18 weeks. However, a small but statistically significant treatm ent effect for plaque index was seen at 12 weeks in favour of the tric losan/copolymer toothpaste compared to the stannous fluoride and conve ntional fluoride toothpastes, this difference had disappeared by the 1 8 week examination. All volunteers oral hygiene and gingivitis scores improved after the baseline examination, and this improvement continue d throughout the trial. This is a feature of nearly all toothbrushing studies and can be attributed to the initial prophylaxis and the Hawth orne phenomenon. Such phenomena, noted in home use clinical trials, ma y mask the efficacy of proven antiplaque formulations.