2009 Volume 52 Issue 5 Pages 377-383
We evaluated the effect of dentifrice containing 3% vitamin C on periodontitis. Institutional ethics committee approval was obtained prior to the study. Sixty patients (26 men and 34 women) with periodontitis were enrolled in this double-blind clinical trial. We prepared three types of dentifrice: one containing 5.0% zeolite, 0.68% sodium monofluorophosphate, 0.05% cetylpyridinium chloride and 0.05% β-glycyrrhetinic acid (D-1); one with 1.0% vitamin C added to D-1 (D-2); and one with 3.0% vitamin C added to D-1 (D-3). Dentifrice was randomly assigned among subjects, each of whom was required to brush twice daily for 4 weeks. Periodontal indices were measured at baseline and at 2- and 4-week evaluations. The results for mean gingival index (GI), probing depth (PD) and bleeding scores in all groups revealed statistically significant differences between at baseline and at the 2-week evaluation (p<0.01) and between at baseline and at the 4-week evaluation (p<0.01). The results for mean GI, PD and bleeding scores with D-2 and D-3 revealed statistically significant differences between D-1 and D-2 and between D-1 and D-3 at the 2- and 4-week evaluations (p<0.01). Of the three dentifrices, D-3 was the most effective. Statistically significant differences in mean GI (p<0.05) and PD (p<0.05) were observed between D-2 and D-3. These results suggest that a dentifrice containing 3% vitamin C is more effective against periodontitis than one containing 1% vitamin C.
