Abstract

Incorporating herbal extracts in the formulation of toothpastes is becoming an accepted mode of chemical plaque control. This study has been conducted to determine whether an herbal-based toothpaste would inhibit de novo plaque formation beyond that of a conventional fluoride Toothpaste. Fifteen adult volunteers, meeting the inclusion criteria (age range19 - 22) participated in a double-blind, cross-over controlled clinical trial, based on a variation of a 4 day plaque regrowth model. After professional tooth cleaning, subjects were asked to refrain from all mechanical hygiene measures for the next 96 h, and  to use two rinses (1 min) a day as the only oral hygiene measure. At day 4, teeth were stained to assess the whole mouth plaque index (PI) using Turesky modification of Quigley Hein PI (TMQH), and to evaluate the PI for anterior teeth using a 10 scaled method of plaque scoring (NMPS). Herbal-based toothpaste provided statistically significant plaque inhibitory action measured by whole mouth plaque index, over control toothpaste (P = 0.032). There was no significant difference between test and control dentifrices in plaque index for anterior teeth using NMPS index. Pearson´s correlation coefficient showed significant values indicating close similarity between the two indices (r = 0.962, P < 0.0001). This study demonstrated the effectiveness of herbal-based toothpaste in the control of dental plaque formation over control paste. Further investigation into the potential value of this formulation among target population is recommended.

Key words: Plaque inhibition, herbal based toothpaste, clinical trial, plaque index.