Six-month effects of a sanguinarine dentifrice on plaque and gingivitis.

A six-month, double-blind clinical trial was conducted to determine the effectiveness of a sanguinarine-containing dentifrice in reducing plaque and gingival inflammation. One hundred twenty adult volunteers were randomly assigned to a control or experimental group. The test dentifrice contained 750 mcg/g of sanguinaria extract. A dentifrice of similar composition without sanguinarine was used as the placebo. Plaque and gingival inflammation scores were recorded for four surfaces on each of 12 index teeth at baseline, one-, three, and six-months. Matched pair t-test analyses showed no significant differences between experimental and control groups for mean six-month changes in plaque and gingival inflammation scores in analyses using all 48 sites per subject or in analyses of only the 24 interproximal sites. No long-term reduction was demonstrated in plaque or gingival inflammation with the use of a sanguinarine-containing dentifrice.