Effect of sanguinaria extract on established plaque and gingivitis when supragingivally delivered as a manual rinse or under pressure in an oral irrigator.

Sanguinaria extract (sanguinaria) solutions were evaluated in 44 subjects in a 2-week, no oral hygiene study as a 300 micrograms/ml manual rinse, and the results compared to supragingival irrigation with 22.5 micrograms/ml sanguinaria concentration and supragingival irrigation with water. Both the manual use of sanguinaria and supragingival irrigation of dilute sanguinaria produced significantly less plaque growth than supragingival irrigation with deionized water. In terms of % changes from baseline, manual rinsing and supragingival irrigation with sanguinaria limited plaque growth to 17.7% and 24.2%, respectively, while irrigation with water had a 51.5% growth. For gingivitis, control supragingival irrigation with sanguinarine and with water were statistically different from manual rinsing with sanguinaria. Compared to baseline, the groups irrigating with sanguinaria and with water had gingivitis reductions of 68.7% and 73.3%, respectively, while manual rinsing with sanguinaria had a 29.6% reduction. The results suggest that dilute solutions of sanguinaria delivered via rinsing or supragingival irrigation are effective in controlling plaque as an additional benefit to the use of supragingival irrigation to control gingivitis. Supragingival irrigation with sanguinaria as part of a home care routine for patients with plaque and gingivitis is suggested.