A longitudinal comparison of tooth whitening resulting from dentifrice use.

The effect of twice-daily brushing with one of three different dentifrices (Arm & Hammer Dental Care, Arm & Hammer Dental Care Extra Whitening, Crest) on stain removal and tooth whitening was examined in 115 volunteers over a period of 12 weeks. The facial surfaces of 12 anterior teeth were assessed for stain using a published, modified version of a standard stain index. Whiteness was measured on teeth 8 and 9 using a single Vita Lumin-Vaccum Shade Guide for consistency.

The use of repeated measures analysis of variance for plaque and gingival indices.

Clinical trials for anti-gingivitis and anti-plaque agents commonly use the mean of Silness and Löe plaque indices and Löe and Silness gingival indices as response variables. The aim of this report is to determine if data from anti-plaque and anti-gingivitis clinical trials using Silness and Löe plaque indices and Löe and Silness gingival indices satisfy conditions necessary for the use of the univariate or multivariate approach to repeated measures. These conditions are multivariate normality, homogeneity of variance-covariance matrices, and for the univariate approach, a type-H variance-covariance matrix.