Efficacy of an unwaxed dental floss impregnated with 2% chlorhexidine on control of supragingival biofilm: A randomized, clinical trial

AIM: In the present study, we evaluated the antiplaque and antigingivitis efficacy of a dental floss impregnated with 2% chlorhexidine digluconate. METHODS: Thirty dental students were randomly divided into three groups (n=10): (a) negative control (NC) group, in which no interproximal cleaning was performed; (b) the positive control (PC) group, which used a standard unwaxed dental floss twice daily; and (c) and the test group, which used a unwaxed dental floss impregnated with 2% chlorhexidine twice daily. Six surfaces per tooth were evaluated by the Quigley-Hein plaque index (Turesky modification) at the last appointment (day 15), and testing for the presence of marginal bleeding was performed using the marginal bleeding index (MBI) at both the baseline and last appointments. RESULTS: At day 15, the test group had the lowest mean plaque index (1.04±0.67), showing a statistically-significant difference compared to the NC group (1.40±0.65, P<.001) and PC group (2.30±0.73, P<.001). The PC and test groups showed a mean reduction of 70.2% and 87.26%, respectively, with significant reduction compared to baseline (P<.05) for the MBI. No statistically-significant difference was found between the PC and test groups (P=.126). CONCLUSION: Unwaxed dental floss impregnated with 2% chlorhexidine showed additional reductions in supragingival interproximal biofilm compared with a conventional unwaxed dental floss, without additional improvement in marginal bleeding.