Gingival health benefits of essential-oil and cetylpyridinium chloride mouthrinses: a 6-month randomized clinical study.

Abstract This randomized, single center, examiner-blind, controlled, parallel-group, 6-month clinical study compared the antiplaque/antigingivitis potential of an essential oil (EO) versus a 0.07% cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC)-containing mouthrinse. A 5% hydroalcohol solution was included as a control group. 354 healthy volunteers (18-71 years of age) were enrolled in this clinical trial; 338 subjects completed the study. At baseline, 1-, 3-, and 6-month visits, subjects received an oral examination, gingivitis (MGI), gingival bleeding (BI) and plaque assessments (PI). Following randomization, subjects received a prophylaxis and began brushing twice daily with the provided fluoride toothpaste and rinsing twice daily with 20 mL of the assigned mouthrinse for 30 seconds. All rinses were well tolerated by the subjects, with the exception of extrinsic tooth stain complaints in 13 subjects in the CPC group between the 3- and 6-month exams. Statistically significant reductions in gingivitis, bleeding and plaque were observed for both EO and CPC at all post-baseline time-points when compared to the negative control. At 6 months MGI and PI were reduced by 42.6% and 42.0% for EO and by 17.1% and 13.9% respectively, for CPC vs. control. When compared to CPC, EO was statistically significantly superior at all post-baseline time-points. EO showed increasing reductions in MGI of 10.5%, 20.3% and 30.7% as well as reductions in PI of 12.7%, 23.7% and 32.6% at 1, 3 and 6 months, respectively. When analyzing the number of healthy sites (MGI scores of 0 or 1), the beneficial effect of the EO-containing mouthrinse is 45.8% greater than using a CPC-containing mouthrinse and 59.8% greater than placebo.