Whitening Optical Effect of New Chewing Gums

Today, many treatments are available to enhance the color of teeth, but they require a few days to weeks to deliver this effect.

To evaluate the instantaneous optical whitening effect of two new sugar-free chewing gums and one dentifrice of proven efficacy versus one placebo chewing gum.

This was a single-blind, parallel trial. 424 participants entered the study and were randomly allocated to four groups. They received a personal silicone mask with a calibrated hole at one upper incisor to apply a dental colorimeter. The tools tested were chewing-gum containing indigotine (E132-FD&C Blue 2) and spirulina, chewing-gum containing only spirulina, chewing-gum placebo, and dentifrice containing Blue Covarine. Vita® Easyshade scored the tooth color, and the WIO and WI_D whiteness indexes were calculated. For chewing gums, the color of the teeth was scored before the assumption and after 2’30” of mastication. For dentifrice, participants brushed for 1’30”, then rinsed, and the color was scored before brushing and after 2’30”. Statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc.

The two experimental whitening chewing gums and the dentifrice significantly increased the WIO and the WID indexes from the baselines (p<0.001). Moreover, their effects were statistically greater than those reported for the placebo chewing gum (p<0.05) but not significatively different among them (p=NS).

All the tested whitening tools showed an instant optical whitening perception. Further studies are required to assess the intensity of the effect over a prolonged time to meet the people's request for fast whitening tools.

The clinical trial registration no. is PVM-2020-01.