CLINICAL DATA ABOUT THE BENEFITS OF MOUTHWASH

Did you know that untreated oral disease is a worldwide issue that affects 3.9 billion people?¹ That's more than half of the world population.² Perhaps even more astonishing, 90% of the world has some degree of chronic gingivitis.³

Statistics like these are why, for over 100 years, the LISTERINE^® Brand has continually dedicated itself to improving oral healthcare-and it's working. We've got the proof.

Years of robust clinical research supporting the benefits of rinsing.

The many years of extensive research behind LISTERINE^® mouthrinses have consistently and clearly demonstrated the prominent benefits of rinsing. For example, the 6-month study "Adjunctive benefit of an essential oil-containing mouthrinse in reduncing plaque and gingivitis in patients who brush and floss reguraly" (Sharma et al) set out to determine the incremental benefit of the adjunctive use of LISTERINE^® Antiseptic to a brushing and flossing routine, in inhibiting whole-mouth plaque and gingivitis.⁴

Subjects were randomized into one of 3 groups: Brushing + Hydroalcohol (5%) Control Rinse (BC); Brushing + Flossing + Control (BFC); and Brushing + Flossing + LISTERINE® Antiseptic (BFEO). And the results were conclusive:

• Whole-mouth mean Plaque Index score at 6 months: BFEO rinse group experienced 56.3% reduction vs BC⁴
• Whole-mouth mean Modified Gingival Index score at 6 months: BFEO rinse group experienced 29.9% rduction vs BC⁴

This long-term study clearly demonstrated that using LISTERINE® Antiseptic mouthrinse twice daily significantly improves the benefits of a recommended regimen of brushing and flossing.4
This conclusive study was followed up by a post hoc SITE-WISE ANALYSIS^®5:

• A maximum of 108 sites per subject were scored for gingival health (28 teeth x 4   surfaces/tooth), measured via a Modified Gingival Index (MGI)
• 237 healthy subjects, each with mild-to-moderate gingivitis were followed for 6 months
• Mean percentage of healthy sites was calculated by taking numbers of sites with MGI   scores of 0 or 1, divided by total number of sites (maximum number of sites 108)

The post hoc SITE-WISE ANALYSIS^® showed that LISTERINE® Antiseptic provides twice as many healthy gingival sites compared to brushing and flossing alone*—and further confirmed the benefit of adding rinse to an oral health regimen⁵. To read more about the pivotal Sharma et al study from which the post hoc SITE-WISE ANALYSIS^® was derived, please click here.^4.5

A landmark meta-analysis.

As impressive as these results were, they represent only 2 out of more than 35 years of continuous clinical studies. To leverage this massive collection of data, the LISTERINE® Brand embarked on a sweeping landmark, peer-reviewed, clinical meta-analysis encompassing 29 published and unpublished studies over 3 decades—to assess the additive effect of an essential oil-containing mouthrinse (MMEO) vs mechanical methods in subjects with mild-to-moderate plaque and gingivitis⁶. The sheer scale of this pooled study was quite substantial:

More importantly, this robust meta-analysis enabled broader, more clinically relevant conclusions—and has provided the most conclusive and consistent evidence to date on the additive benefits of LISTERINE® Antiseptic to mechanical methods (MM).
At 6 months, MMEO subjects had nearly 5 times more plaque-free sites vs mechanical methods, and over 2 times more healthy gingival sites vs mechanical methods, as well⁶.

This unprecedented study reinforced the essentiality of rinsing in a daily oral care routine, and concluded that LISTERINE® Antiseptic can provide a significant benefit beyond mechanical methods alone, in the prevention and reduction of plaque accumulation and gingivitis.  
And that means that, based on this wealth of conclusive evidence, you can recommend LISTERINE® products to your future patients with the utmost confidence. What’s more, these results confirm that a world of better oral health is not only possible, but attainable. And it all starts with you.

What we’ve learned:

1. In the long-term study (Sharma et al), how much did the use of LISTERINE® Antiseptic improve the reduction of gingivitis in addition to the “Brush + Floss” group?
    a.) 18.7%
    b.) 29.9%
    c.) 56.3%
    d.) 62.5%
2. How many studies were included in the meta-analysis and over what period of time?
    a.) 9 studies over 3 years
    b.) 13 studies over 5 years
    c.) 18 studies over 1 decade
    d.) 29 studies over 4 decades
3. The meta-analysis proved that patients who added LISTERINE® mouthrinse had _____ more healthy gingival sites.
    a.) 2x
    b.) 3x
    c.) 4x
    d.) 5x

Answers:  1. b; 2. d; 3. d.