Effect on Oral VSC After Sucking of Zinc Lactate Tablets

Objectives: This clinical study was conducted to assess the efficacy of sugar-free tablets containing zinc lactate on oral volatile sulfur-containing compounds (VSC) for 30 minutes versus placebo tablets
Methods: To join this crossover trial, subjects had to have at least 24 teeth, no oral or systemic diseases, and no removable dentures. All eligible participants had to avoid professional oral hygiene and drugs for two weeks and to brush their teeth and tongue, to smoke, to assume alcohol, coffee or tea, onion, garlic, licorice for six hours before the test. Moreover, they had to score a level of VSC ≥75 ppb at the basal measurement. The test tablet (1g) contained zinc lactate, delivering 0.51mg of zinc per tablet, the control tablet was identical without the zinc salt. The OralChroma2^© device was utilized to score the levels of VSC at baseline, after sucking one tablet and after 30 minutes. The participants were requested to test both tablets after a minimum washout period of 72 hours. Data were analyzed with SPSS software and significance was set at α=0.05
Results: 30 subjects completed the trial. None reported problems linked to the assumption of zinc lactate. The mean reduction from baseline at the end of the test tablets sucking was 78% (p<0.001), after 30 minutes, it was 44% (p<0.001), instead, the mean reductions from baseline at the end of the control tablets sucking was 46% (p<0.001) and it was 21% (p<0.001) after 30 minutes. The comparisons between the two groups showed a statistically significant difference for reductions in favor of the zinc lactate tablets both at the end of the sucking period (p<0.001) and after 30 minutes (p<0.01)
Conclusions: Tablets containing zinc lactate can statistically significantly reduce the oral VSC levels immediately and after 30 minutes significatively better than a control tablet