Effect of herbal and nonherbal dentifrice on gingival health - A clinical study

The main causative factor for periodontal diseases is dental plaque. The most effective way to remove plaque is tooth brushing using dentifrice. Recently, due to the side effects of commercially available chemical dentifrices, herbal toothpaste is gaining popularity. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of herbal and nonherbal toothpaste on gingival health. The current study involved 100 outpatients reported to Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals. Each patient received oral prophylaxis and for 3 days, they were told not to use any other oral hygiene products. The subjects were assigned randomly into the test group (Colgate Herbal) and control group (Colgate). Thirty days later, the plaque and gingival indices were recorded and compared with the baseline using an unpaired t-test (SPSS software, version 23). The mean plaque index at baseline was 1.4 ± 0.6 (herbal) and 1.3 ± 0.7 (nonherbal), and after 30 days, the scores were 1.0 ± 0.5 and 0.9 ± 0.3, respectively. The mean gingival index score for herbal and nonherbal dentifrice at baseline was 1.19 ± 0.5 and 0.9 ± 0.2, and at 30^th day, it was 1.1 ± 0.4 and 1.0 ± 0.4, respectively. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups. Herbal dentifrices are just as effective as nonherbal dentifrices at reducing plaque and improving gingival health.