Caries preventive effects of toothpastes containing monofluorophosphate and trimetaphosphate: a 3-year clinical trial

The caries-preventive effects of two toothpastes were tested in a 3-year clinical trial involving 1319 children aged 11-13 years. The test toothpastes were: 1) a low abrasion paste containing 0.8% sodium monofluorophosphate (MFP), and 2) a paste containing 3% sodium trimetaphosphate (TMP). The control toothpaste was a conventional, moderately abrasive paste containing 0.8% sodium monofluorophosphate. The children were examined clinically and radiologically each year. Toothpaste was supplied to the children's homes, and its use was unsupervised. Caries increments after 3 years, in terms of DMF teeth and DMF surfaces, showed no significant differences between the MFP test group (444 children) and the MFP control group (450 children). However, the TMP test group (425 children) had significantly higher caries increments than the MFP control group. All three groups of children showed some improvement in oral hygiene and in gingival health, but there were no significant differences between the groups.