Anti-Erosion Properties of a Stannous Containing Sodium Fluoride Dentifrice

Objectives: To determine if an experimental stannous containing sodium fluoride dentifrice provides greater enamel protection to erosion than a conventional dentifrice in a 15 day in situ model. Methods: A single, centre, double blind, randomised, supervised, two-treatment crossover study was undertaken. 35 subjects were recruited to a 4 period in situ study (15 days/period), receiving 1 of 2 dentifrice products each period, an experimental stannous containing sodium fluoride paste or a conventional sodium fluoride and potassium nitrate paste. Subjects wore an intra-oral appliance retaining 2 polished human enamel samples for 6 hours/day, swishing with a slurry of one of the dentifrices twice a day and swishing with 250ml of orange juice for 10 minutes once/day. Enamel samples were baselined with contact profilomtery and measured at days 5 and 15 for surface changes. Results: 2 measurements for each sample were recorded at baseline, day 5 and day 15, and the average result minused from baseline readings. No treatment differences were observed at baseline (p>0.85) with means of 0.150 and 0.146 for the conventional and experimental dentifrices, respectively. At day 5 the stannous containing sodium fluoride dentifrice demonstrated a 25% lower enamel loss than the conventional dentifrice (p=0.0169) with means of 1.37 µm and 1.83 µm, respectively, and at day 15, a 38% lower enamel loss (p<0.0001) with means of 2.03 µm and 3.30 µm, respectively. There were 3 adverse events. Conclusion: The experimental stannous based dentifrice demonstrated significantly greater protection relative to the conventional fluoride based dentifrice against an erosive challenge to human enamel in the in situ clinical model. (This study was funded by Procter & Gamble).