Effect of a Commercial Toothpaste Containing Xylitol on the Count of Streptococcus Mutans in Saliva of Pregnant Women: Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Roxana Patricia Escalante-Medina; Angel Steven Asmat-Abanto & Miguel Angel Ruiz-Barrueto

Summary

The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of a commercial toothpaste containing xylitol on the counts of Streptococcus mutans in saliva of pregnant women. The present was a double-blind clinical trial performed at the "José Olaya" health Centre (Chiclayo Peru) in January 2017. We worked with a sample population of 50 pregnant in the second trimester that met the established criteria, distributing in two groups: 25 pregnant women used toothpaste with 10 % xylitol and 25 pregnant used toothpaste without xylitol. They were taken and microbiologically processed a sample of saliva before the start of the study and 14 days after the use of the respective toothpastes. The Colony-forming units (CFU) of Streptococcus mutans in saliva were counted with a highly significant reliability through the intraclass correlation coefficient, Intra-and Interexaminer calibration (1.000 and 0.999, respectively). Data analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test, considering a 5 % significance level. No difference was found among the pregnant women who used xylitol toothpaste compared to those who used toothpaste without xylitol (p = 0,062). It was concluded that the effect of xylitol containing commercial toothpaste is similar to a toothpaste without xylitol on the count of Streptococcus mutans in the saliva of pregnant women.

KEY WORDS: toothpaste, xylitol, streptococcus mutans.

How to cite this article

ESCALANTE-MEDINA, R. P.; ASMAT-ABANTO, A. S. & RUIZ-BARRUETO, M. A. Effect of a commercial toothpaste containing xylitol on the count of Streptococcus mutans in saliva of pregnant women: randomized controlled clinical trial. Int. J. Odontostomat., 13(3):316-320, 2019.