Comparative 3-week clinical tooth-shade evaluation of a novel liquid whitening gel containing 18% carbamide peroxide and a commercially available whitening dentifrice.

A randomized, controlled, examiner-blind, parallel-group clinical trial was performed to compare the tooth-whitening benefits of a novel, nontray, "paint-on" liquid gel containing 18% carbamide peroxide (Colgate Simply White Clear Whitening Gel) to those of a commercially available whitening dentifrice. Efficacy was measured by using Vita shade scores obtained at baseline and after 2 and 3 weeks of product use. Eighty subjects were first balanced according to gender, age, and shade scores into two groups. Half were then randomly assigned to either alpha 3-week routine of tooth-brushing (using a nonwhitening dentifrice) and twice-daily 18% carbamide peroxide gel application or a 3-week routine of twice-daily brushing with the commercially available whitening dentifrice. At the completion of the study, the results showed that subjects' teeth in the liquid whitening gel-treated group exhibited a statistically significant (P < .05) 4.12 mean tooth-shade improvement compared to baseline and exhibited a mean score that was 3.7 units higher than the corresponding mean score of the group assigned to use the whitening dentifrice (statistically significant, P < .05). It can therefore be concluded that the combined use of Colgate Simply White Clear Whitening Gel immediately after brushing with a regular toothpaste is clinically superior at whitening teeth than solely using a clinically proven, commercially available whitening dentifrice.