Clinical comparison of anticalculus dentifrices: a three-month study of Thai children and teenagers.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Zinc and Dentifrices, published as a randomized controlled trial.

A three-month, double-blind, parallel clinical study was conducted to evaluate the effects of three dentifrices on supragingival calculus formation.

Why It Was Studied

Using baseline Volpe-Manhold calculus scores, 150 Thai elementary school children in Chonburi Province were stratified into three balanced groups.

All children then received a whole mouth oral prophylaxis and were randomly assigned one of the three test dentifrices.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 150 children taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as children and teenagers, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and parallel-group study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Zinc and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

As a double-blind Zinc study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Zinc could be set against what happens without it.

The Zinc group and the comparison group ran side by side rather than switching.

What Was Measured

Using baseline Volpe-Manhold calculus scores, 150 Thai elementary school children in Chonburi Province were stratified into three balanced groups.

All children then received a whole mouth oral prophylaxis and were randomly assigned one of the three test dentifrices.

The subject headings attached to it are Analysis of Variance, Citrates, Citric Acid, Dental Calculus, Dentifrices, Diphosphates and Maleates.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Zinc and Dentifrices in 150 children.

The publication is from 1991 (The Journal of clinical dentistry), a journal based in United States.

More context: the related Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc library page, all human trials.