The clinical comparison of a triclosan/copolymer/fluoride dentifrice <i>vs</i> a breath‐freshening dentifrice in reducing breath odor overnight: a crossover study

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this randomized, crossover study was to compare the effectiveness of the triclosan/copolymer/sodium fluoride (TCF‐AF) dentifrice and a commercially available breath‐freshening dentifrice containing fluoride for their ability to reduce volatile sulfur compounds (VSC) associated with oral malodor overnight. Methods: Following a 1‐week washout period of brushing with a regular fluoride dentifrice, subjects reported to the clinical site without performing oral hygiene, eating or drinking in preparation for baseline breath sampling. Subjects were randomly assigned a test dentifrice and instructed to brush their teeth for 1 min, twice a day for 1 week. On the morning of day 8, subjects returned to the test site, having refrained from oral hygiene, eating and drinking, for overnight sampling. Following a second 1‐week washout period, subjects repeated the same regimen, but now using the other test product. At each measurement, the level of breath VSC was evaluated using a gas chromatograph equipped with a flame photometric detector. Measurements were taken in duplicate, and then averaged. The levels of VSC were expressed as parts per billion (ppb) in mouth air. Results: At baseline, the mean breath VSC levels for the TCF‐AF and breath‐freshening dentifrice were 618 and 581 ppb respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the baseline levels. Overnight, the TCF‐AF and the breath‐freshening dentifrice reduced breath mean VSC levels to 267 and 521 ppb respectively. This gave a 56.7 and 10.2% reduction in VSC levels for these two products, respectively, compared with baseline. The reduction for the TCF‐AF dentifrice was significantly different ( P &lt; 0.05%) from that of the breath‐freshening dentifrice. Conclusion: The results of this randomized, double‐blind, crossover study indicate that the TCF‐AF dentifrice was significantly more effective than a commercially available breath‐freshening dentifrice containing fluoride in reducing breath VSC associated with bad breath overnight.