Oral Hygiene Improvements by a Novel Zinc Toothpaste—Results from a 6-Week Randomized Clinical Study amongst Community-Dwelling Adults

Abstract

Objective: This clinical investigation evaluated oral health improvements after the use of a novel zinc toothpaste in comparison to a control after 3 weeks and 6 weeks of use. Clinical assessments of gingivitis, bleeding and dental plaque evaluated oral health. Methods: Healthy adults meeting the study criteria (plaque index scores ≥ 1.5 and gingival index scores ≥ 1.0) were randomized into a treatment group with 74 participants assigned to the test and 73 participants assigned to the control groups. With the assigned toothpaste, subjects were instructed to brush at home twice a day for one minute. Subjects were evaluated clinically for gingivitis, plaque and bleeding at the baseline, employing 3-week and 6-week examinations. Results: All one hundred and forty-seven (147) subjects completed the 6-week study with no significant differences between groups at baseline (p > 0.05). The test demonstrated progressive improvements at the 3-week and 6-week evaluations as compared to the control (p < 0.001). In comparison to the control, the test demonstrated reductions of 13.4%, 17.0% and 55.3% for gingivitis, dental plaque and gingival bleeding, respectively, at the final visit (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Clinical improvements in gingivitis, dental plaque and gingival bleeding were registered in the group assigned the test toothpaste as compared to the control. The test toothpaste demonstrated statistically significant and progressively improving gingivitis, dental plaque and gingival bleeding scores that were all statistically significant versus the control at each post-treatment assessment.