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Effects of oral prophylaxis including tongue cleaning on halitosis and gingival inflammation in gingivitis patients—a randomized controlled clinical trial

Clinical Oral Investigations volume 23, pages 1829–1836 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of oral prophylaxis including tongue scraping on level of halitosis, clinical periodontal parameters and local cytokine response in gingivitis patients.

Materials and methods

In this randomized controlled clinical trial, 36 gingivitis patients were randomly assigned into two subgroups after scaling and polishing. Group 1 received oral hygiene instructions including the use of tongue scraper; group 2 received oral hygiene instructions alone without tongue cleaning. Levels of volatile sulfur compounds (VSC), organoleptic and tongue coating scores, clinical periodontal parameters and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) samples were collected at baseline and 7 days after oral prophylaxis. GCF samples were analyzed using multiplexing analysis for the simultaneous measurements of cytokines. The Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon, and Student’s paired and unpaired t tests were used for statistical analysis.

Results

Statistically significant reductions were found in terms of clinical periodontal parameters in both groups. However, significant improvements in VSC levels, organoleptic and tongue coating scores were observed just in tongue scraping group. Moreover, the GCF levels of IL-1β and IL-8 significantly decreased after the treatment in group 1 according to the baseline values.

Conclusion

The present study indicated that oral prophylaxis including tongue scraping was effective in improving intra-oral halitosis and pro-inflammatory cytokine response in GCF in gingivitis patients.

Clinical relevance

The results suggest that tongue scraping can be taken into consideration in order to manage gingival inflammation as well as VSC levels in gingivitis patients but further clinical studies are required to judge the clinical relevance.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. Michigan O Color- Coded Probe, Hu-Friedy, Chicago, IL

  2. Curaprox CTC 201, Curaden AG, Kriens, Switzerland

  3. Sensonics Inc., Haddon Heights, NJ, USA

  4. Halimeter®, Interscan Corp., Chatsworth, CA

  5. Periopaper® Amityville, NY, USA

  6. Periotron 8000® OraFlow, Amityville, NY

  7. Luminex™, Cytokine Human, Invitrogen Corp., Carsbad, CA

  8. MasterPlex® QT, Hitachi, San Bruno, CA

  9. IBM corporation, NY, USA

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr. Erdem Karabulut for his contributions to the study in terms of statistical analysis.

Funding

This study was funded by the Hacettepe University Scientific Research Project, Turkey (grant number THD-2015-5523).

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, Hacettepe University, 06100, Ankara, Turkey

    Buket Acar, Ezel Berker & Yağmur D. İlarslan

  2. Department of Pediatric Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

    Çağman Tan & İlhan Tezcan

  3. Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

    Meryem Tekçiçek

Authors
  1. Buket Acar
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  2. Ezel Berker
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  3. Çağman Tan
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  4. Yağmur D. İlarslan
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  5. Meryem Tekçiçek
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  6. İlhan Tezcan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Buket Acar.

Ethics declarations

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in compliance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with Helsinki Declaration 1975, as revised in 2000.

This study was approved by the Ethical Committee (14/639-06).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Ethical Committee (14/639-06). All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Acar, B., Berker, E., Tan, Ç. et al. Effects of oral prophylaxis including tongue cleaning on halitosis and gingival inflammation in gingivitis patients—a randomized controlled clinical trial. Clin Oral Invest 23, 1829–1836 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-018-2617-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-018-2617-5

Keywords

  • Tongue coating
  • Halitosis
  • Cytokines
  • Gingival crevicular fluid
  • Gingivitis