Effects of zirconium silicate chewing gum on plaque and gingivitis.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the short-term clinical effect of zirconium silicate chewing gum on plaque and gingivitis. Initial scoring using the Plaque, Gingival, and Quigley-Hein indices was carried out. Twenty subjects then began a 2-week period of refraining from any type of oral hygiene. The indices were used again to determine a baseline score, which indicated the development of experimental gingivitis. The subjects then chewed the gum for 30 minutes, and the plaque indices were rescored. Subjects were divided into two groups of ten each: group A resumed brushing and flossing, along with the 30 minutes of gum chewing, and group B flossed and chewed gum only. At 1 day and 1 week all subjects were rescored. Pairwise and student's t tests were performed. The immediate effect of chewing the gum for 30 minutes was to reduce plaque up to 19% overall. The reductions increased to 38% by 1 day, and 46% by 1 week for group A, while group B showed reductions of 26% at 1 day and 22% 1 week. Both groups showed significant reductions (P .01) in their gingivitis scores after 1 week. Zirconium silicate chewing gum may serve as an adjunct for the control of plaque and gingivitis.