LAUSR

BACKGROUND Compliance to periodontal maintenance therapy (PMT) is essential for long-term periodontal health. Between PMT visits, patients must maintain good oral hygiene. A dentifrice with demonstrable clinical benefits for use between PMT visits would be highly desirable. The aim of this clinical study was to investigate the effect of a novel dental gel on probing depths (PD) and inflammation when used as a home care dentifrice in Stage I and II periodontitis patients. METHODS This double-blind clinical study randomized 65 subjects with Stage I and II periodontitis to the novel dental gel containing 2.6% EDTA, and a commercially available anti-gingivitis dentifrice with 0.454% stannous fluoride. Primary endpoint was PD at 6 months for those sites with baseline PD ≥ 4mm and secondary endpoints included whole mouth mean scores of modified gingival index (MGI), modified sulcus bleeding index (mSBI) and plaque index (PI). No SRP was performed at baseline. RESULTS Subjects using the novel dentifrice showed significant PD reductions of 1.18mm (from 4.27mm at baseline to 3.09mm at 6 months) compared to 0.93mm (from 4.23mm at baseline to 3.30mm at 6 months) shown for those using the positive control dentifrice. Difference between treatments at 6 months was 0.21mm with p-value = 0.0126. Significant improvements in MGI (p = 0.0000), mSBI (p = 0.0000) and PI (p = 0.0102) were also observed in 6 months. CONCLUSION The novel dentifrice showed significant reductions in PD and gingival inflammation over 6 months solely as a home care dentifrice without baseline SRP in Stage I and II periodontitis maintenance patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.