Objective: The study's objectives are to assess the external stain removal effectiveness of activated charcoal toothpaste in comparison to calcium carbonate/perlite toothpaste clinically and to assess enamel surface abrasion for both toothpastes in vitro.
Material and Methods: 32 Patients with extrinsic stains on anterior teeth were divided into 2 groups (n=16); Group 1: patients using activated Charcoal toothpaste , Group 2: patients using calcium carbonate/perlite toothpaste, 4 weeks brushing (twice daily for 1 min) was performed. Additionally, for the in-vitro test 36 specimens obtained from human permanent premolars were randomly divided into 2 groups (n=18): Group 1: brushed with activated Charcoal toothpaste ; Group 2: brushed with calcium carbonate/perlite toothpaste. Atomic force microscope was used to quantify the mean roughness value of the brushed samples after three minutes of brushing with a powered toothbrush in order to evaluate the surface abrasion of enamel.
Results: The total MLSI score did not alter statistically significantly between groups at baseline& after brushing (P > 0.05). Nonetheless, there were statistically significant variations in each group's overall MLSI score between the pre- and post-brushing periods (P < 0.05). However, at baseline the enamel surface abrasion data didn't reveal significant differences between groups (P > 0.05). Conversely, after brushing, there were notable variations in the amount of surface abrasion between the groups (P < 0.0001).
Conclusions: The tested activated charcoal dentifrice showed similar performance in reducing extrinsic stains after 4-weeks of brushing as calcium carbonate/perlite dentifrice. As well as activated charcoal dentifrice-maintained enamel surface integrity post-brushing.