Antibacterial effect of a new toothpaste formulation on experimental gingivitis

Objectives: It was the aim of the study to evaluate the clinical and antibacterial effect of dentifrices containing Univestin/stannous (U) vs. a placebo (P) using an experimental gingivitis model. Methods: In this double-blind, prospective, parallel and randomized, clinical study, 40 subjects (20 per group) who meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria received a complete prophylaxis and a 3-day hygiene period. Then the volunteers discontinued all oral hygiene measures for 4 teeth using a shield (while they could brush the other teeth normally) and treated the four non-brushed teeth twice daily the assigned toothpaste slurry for 21 days. At days 0, 14 and 21, plaque samples were taken from the teeth, were streaked on a microscope slide and stained with two fluorescent dyes (fluorescein diacetate and ethidium bromide) to evaluate the vitality of the plaque sample (VF in %) using an image analysis program to discriminate green (=vital) and red (=dead) bacteria. Results:

VF	Placebo (P)	Univestin (U)	p-value P vs. U
base	70.92 ± 7.86	71.02 ± 7.33	0.967; n.s.
14d	83.08 ± 5.18	79.80 ± 6.99	0.100; n.s.
21d	83.06 ± 6.55	73.14 ± 9.39	<0.001; ***

Statistical analysis performed by ANOVA (level of significance p≤0.05)

Conclusion: A significant effect of the new toothpaste formulation on vital flora was seen only after 21d.

This study was supported by Colgate-Palmolive, Piscataway, USA.