Clinical Efficacy of a Tooth Cleaning Tablet

Objectives: Toothpastes are in common use but sometimes the handling is inconvenient, e.g. at short- term travels or under field conditions. The development of other means for the use during toothbrushing is plausible. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical efficacy of a fluoridated tooth cleaning tablet in comparison to a fluoride toothpaste. Methods: 100 male and female volunteers (mean age 23.5 years) participated in a twelve-week-study. After a conditioning period of two weeks with Ajona toothpaste (Dr. Liebe, Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany) group A (n=50) used the tooth cleaning tablet with sodium fluoride and a RDA of 69, group B Colgate fresh gel (Colgate, Hamburg, Germany) for toothbrushing twice a day. The Oral B 35 toothbrush was used for three minutes of brushing. The Turesky index (TI), papilla bleeding index (PBI) and the Volpe-Manhold index (VI) were determined before the conditioning period (1), at baseline (2), after six (3) and twelve weeks (4). The Friedman/Wilcoxon tests and the t-test were used for statistical analysis. Results: The results were as follows: group A- TI-1 0.83±0.49, TI-2 0.85±0.47, TI-3 0.60±0.42, TI-4 0.56±0.36 (p<0.001), PBI-1 0.15±0.23, PBI-2 0.08±0.13, PBI-3 0.09±0.15, PBI-4 0.09±0.14 (p=0.017), VI-1 0.27±0.35, VI-2 0.30±0.39, VI-3 0.37±0.42, VI-4 0.41±0.45 (p<0.001); group B- TI-1 0.94±0.50, TI-2 0.94±0.50, TI-3 0.89±0.43, TI-4 0.75±0.41 (p=0.007), PBI-1 0.09±0.16, PBI-2 0.08±0.13, PBI-3 0.08±0.16, PBI-4 0.07±0.15 (n.s.), VI-1 0.33±0.37, VI-2 0.35±0.39, VI-3 0.37±0.38, VI-4 0.39±0.41 (p<0.001). There was no significant difference between both groups except for TI 3 and 4 (p=0.001 and 0.016). Conclusion: The study suggests that there is no remarcable difference between the designed tooth cleaning tablet with fluoride and a fluoride toothpaste regarding the clinical outcome during a twelve week toothbrushing period. (Supported by Adamantan Cosmetics AG, Rostock, Germany).