A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF THE ANTI-OXIDANT EFFECTS OF DENTIFRICES IN SMOKERS WITH PERIODONTAL DISEASE - A PILOT PROJECT

Volume : VII, Issue : VII, July - 2018

Dr Shreya Shetty, Dr. Karunakar Shetty, Dr Tanya Mukherjee

Background & Objectives: Smoking, an important risk factor for periodontitis, induces oxidative stress in the

body and causes an imbalance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and anti-oxidants. No known evidence

exists regarding the role of dentifrices on the antioxidant levels in the oral cavity as against evidence with regard to their antimicrobial

activity. The present study was conducted to compare the antioxidant & antibacterial effects of herbal and conventional dentifrices in

smokers with chronic gingivitis & periodontitis.

MATERIALS AND METHOD: 150 male patients, (34�9) years with smoking habit were randomly assigned to two groups- one was

instructed to use herbal antioxidant dentifrice (n=75) and the other group, conventional dentifrice for 1 month (n=75). Changes in clinical

parameters and in addition, saliva samples collected were assessed for antioxidant and antibacterial activity at baseline, 1week, 15 days and

1 month.

RESULTS: The clinical parameters showed statistically signi􀃶cant change within both test and control group (P􀀀 0.001) whereas, the change

in antioxidant and antimicrobial levels were signi􀃶cant only in the test and not in the control group.(P>0.05)

CONCLUSION: Both dentifrices may be equally effective in improving both the clinical parameters in smokers, however, the herbal

dentifrice holds a slight edge over its regular counterpart with regard to antibacterial and antioxidant effects.