Clinical comparison of the anticalculus effect of two mouthrinses

A three-month, double-blind clinical study was conducted to compare the effects of supragingival calculus deposits of a mouthrinse containing soluble pyrophosphate and a copolymer of methoxyethylene and maleic acid, as compared to a mouthrinse containing only soluble pyrophosphate and a placebo mouthrinse. Male and female adult subjects were stratified into three balanced groups according to baseline calculus scores obtained from a pre-test period. They received an oral prophylaxis and were assigned to the use of one of the three test mouthrinses. All subjects used a commercially available dentifrice containing 0.76% sodium monofluorophosphate in a silica base. The results from the three-month calculus examination indicated that the soluble pyrophosphate/copolymer mouthrinse reduced supragingival deposits by 31.70% (P less than 0.03), as compared to the placebo mouthrinse. The mouthrinse containing only soluble pyrophosphate did not provide a statistically significant reduction in calculus deposits, as compared to the placebo mouthrinse.