Aim: To examine the effect of amine fluoride/stannous fluoride (AmF/SnF(2))-containing dentifrice and mouth rinse on plaque formation and gingivitis as compared with habitual oral hygiene procedures with a regular sodium fluoride (NaF) dentifrice.

Material and methods: In total, 22 general practices participated in this research project. The participants (N=281) were randomly assigned into two groups: the test group received an AmF/SnF(2) dentifrice-mouth rinse combination and the control group received a NaF-containing dentifrice. The patients were requested to brush twice daily for approximately 2 min. The subjects of the test group had to rinse additionally in the evening for 30 s with 10 ml of the mouth rinse.

Results: Both groups started with comparable scores of plaque, bleeding and staining. At 6 months, the plaque scores were 0.95 for the AmF/SnF(2) group and 0.99 for the NaF group (decrease of 16% and 10%, respectively). Bleeding scores, although significantly different from baseline, did not show differences between the two regimes. At the end of the experimental period, the overall staining was more pronounced in the AmF/SnF(2) group (41%) than the NaF group (26%). Both plaque reduction and increase in staining seemed to be correlated to the amount of mouth rinse used in the test group.

Conclusion: In instruction-resistant patients recruited from dental practices, the combined use of AmF/SnF(2) did not decrease gingivitis at a significant level in comparison with the regular regime of two times daily brushing with an NaF-containing dentifrice. However, the above-mentioned combination resulted in greater plaque reduction than that observed with the use of the conventional dentifrice. When used according to the manufacturer's instructions, this effect on plaque scores was more pronounced.