Evaluation of the Clinical Effects of Tooth Powder on Plaque Induced Gingivitis

Dental plaque, known as dental biofilm, is implicated as the primary etiological agent responsible for oral inflammatory diseases. Matured form of dental plaque plays a major role in the pathogenicity of gingivitis; if not managed in early stages it results in a cascade of events leading to the destruction of periodontal tissues.

Effective plaque control techniques have been suggested that maintain dental biofilm at levels compatible with oral health and is the cornerstone for all preventive strategies to control oral diseases particularly gingivitis. To clean teeth and ensure effective plaque control, different mechanical means have been in use since centuries. However because of an inadequacy in plaque removal, different antimicrobial and antiplaque agents have been introduced in oral-care products.

The use of dentifrices has been recommended over the years as the ultimate way of preventing the incidence of oral diseases. Dentifrices have the anti-plaque and the anti-gingivitis capabilities due to their composition. Toothpastes and to a lesser extent toothpowders are common oral-care products used to eliminate plaque and other deposits from tooth surfaces. Existent literature has focused more on toothpaste and mouth rinse and derelicts toothpowder despite its difference owing to the absence of humectants. With the intention to advance the knowledge on this issue as well as close the research gap, this study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of toothpowder in alleviating gingivitis, controlling dental plaque, and inhibiting extrinsic stains.

A single-blind, parallel arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluated the efficacy of toothpowder against toothpaste through oral hygiene parameters of plaque and stain deposits on teeth and gingival inflammation. Plaque Index, Lobene Stain Index and Gingival Index were used as measures of oral hygiene.

The current RCT revealed that toothpowder and toothpaste were equally effective in both treatment and control groups from clinical perspective however toothpowder showed a statistically significant effectiveness as compared to toothpaste. Toothpowder, composed of calcium carbonate and essential oils, has demonstrated to be statistically more effective than toothpaste in controlling extrinsic dental staining, dental plaque and gingival inflammation.