A possible oral health effect of colostrum containing dentifrices

Colostrum is milk that is produced during the first days post partum and it contains high concentrations of antibodies, enzymes and nutrients that protect the neonate against infection. Pedersen et al. (2002) recommended use of colostrum containing oral hygiene products for individuals suffering from oral medical problems. Objectives: To examine the clinical effect of three colostrum/enzyme containing dentifrices without sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) with two appropriate controls to the number of oral ulcers in a group of patients suffering from multiple recurrent aphthous ulcers (RAU). Other oral health parameters such as plaque index and gingival bleeding point were also to be investigated. Methods: All dentifrices were tested in a test period of 8 weeks. Each participant tested all five dentifrices. A wash out period of one week between each test period was necessary. 75 patients with RAU participated in this double-blind, crossover study. Only patients with at least one aphthous ulcer during a 6-week period were accepted. Friedman's non-parametric test was applied to assess evidence of overall differences between the dentifrices tested, followed by the non-parametric Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test. Results: Brushing with the control, a 1.2 % SLS containing toothpaste resulted in a mean number of 9.23 new ulcers during the experimental period. The experimental colostrum containing toothpastes resulted in 3.98, 4.01 and 4.34 new ulcers respectively during the same period (p<0.05). The plaque index was reduced significantly when the participants brushed with the colostrum/enzyme containing dentifrices compared to both controls. The colostrum containing dentifrices reduced the plaque index with 19.42 %, (mean value) compared to the controls with a percentage reduction measured to 5.67 %. Conclusion: It might be suggested that incorporation of bovine milk-derived colostrum into human oral health care products could be a serious and commercially active attempt to enhance and restore saliva's own antimicrobial capacity.