The Clinical Efficacy of a Zinc Toothpaste

Objectives: This randomized, examiner-blinded, parallel design clinical study compared the effect of oral hygiene with a toothpaste formulated with 1000 ppm sodium monofluorophosphate [control] to a 1000 ppm sodium monofluorphosphate/zinc base toothpaste [test] on dental plaque, gingival inflammation and bleeding.
Methods: Adult subjects who met study criteria (n=147; age range 20-59 years) and presented with mean plaque index scores greater than 1.5 (Turesky Modified Quigley & Hein plaque index) and gingival index scores greater than 1.0 (Löe-Silness gingival index) were enrolled. Calibrated examiners conducted clinical evaluations for whole mouth dental plaque, gingivitis and bleeding index evaluations at baseline. Subjects were randomly assigned to perform twice daily oral hygiene with either the test [n=74] or control toothpaste [n=73]. Post-treatment evaluations were conducted after 3-week and 6-week use of assigned treatments and subjects refrained from oral hygiene for 12-hours prior to each evaluation. Statistical analyses were conducted separately for each evaluation. An analysis of covariance [ANCOVA] compared the effects of treatments and included the corresponding baseline scores as covariates.
Results: Treatment groups demonstrated no significant differences in age or gender by a two-sample t-test and chi-square analyses respectively (p>0.05). All evaluated parameters demonstrated no significant differences between treatment groups at baseline (p>0.05). At the 3-week examination, the test group exhibited statistically significant reductions of 8.2%, 9.8% and 32.3% respectively in gingival, plaque and bleeding index scores as compared to the control (p<0.001). Correspondingly, at the 6-week examination, the test group exhibited progressively greater reductions in evaluated parameters with statistically significant reductions of 13.4%, 17.0% and 55.3%respectively in gingival, plaque and bleeding index scores as compared to the control group (p<0.001).
Conclusions: Twice daily tooth brushing with a 1000 ppm sodium monofluorophosphate/zinc base toothpaste was more effective than a control toothpaste at improving gingival health and reducing dental plaque.