To assess the effect of a calcium carbonate/perlite toothpaste on the levels of extrinsic stain removed at two weeks compared to a silica control toothpaste.
In this parallel group, double-blind study, subjects were stratified by natural baseline stain and tobacco use and allocated at random to one of the two study toothpastes. Subjects brushed with their allocated toothpaste twice daily for two weeks before extrinsic tooth stain was again assessed.
The study was performed at 4-Front Research UK Limited, Maldon, UK.
152 adult subjects with at least eight assessable incisors/ canines with natural extrinsic tooth stain completed the study.
The extrinsic tooth stain on the facial surfaces of incisors and canines was measured using the Macpherson modification of the Lobene Stain Index.
Both of the toothpaste groups had significantly less stain after two weeks of use compared to the baseline value (p<0.001). Analysis of covariance on the sum of the whole mouth stain scores showed that the calcium carbonate/perlite toothpaste removed significantly more stain over the two week study than the silica control toothpaste (p<0.05).
Twice daily brushing for two weeks with a calcium carbonate/perlite toothpaste removes more extrinsic stain than a silica control toothpaste.