ArticleHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland)2025
Assessment of Oral Hygiene Practices, Adjunctive Cleaning Methods, and Their Impact on Plaque and Gingival Indices Among Young Adults in Urban and Rural Settings in Romania.
Article in Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Artificial Intelligence Applications in Pediatric Dentistry: A Comprehensive Review.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Comparative Clinical Evaluation of Chamomile, Sage, and Ginger Mouthwashes in Reducing Plaque and Gingival Inflammation.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Comparative Evaluation of Beverage-Induced Surface Alterations on Dental Enamel: An In Vitro Biomaterial Study.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesYoung adults increasingly prefer natural dentifrices; however, the short-term clinical effects and behavioural correlates of these products remain insufficiently documented. This study aimed to evaluate the associations between daily oral-hygiene practices, adjunctive cleaning methods, and plaque and gingival indices, and to compare the short-term effects of three natural toothpaste formulations-sodium bicarbonate, activated charcoal, and lemon-based.
methodsIn this cross-sectional study, 101 Romanian adults (aged 20-41 years; 69.3% urban) completed a structured questionnaire assessing brushing frequency and the use of dental floss, interdental stimulators, and mouth rinses. Clinical assessments included the Silness-Löe Plaque Index and the Löe-Silness Gingival Index (modified by Lobene), recorded immediately before and after a supervised 2 min brushing session using the Bass technique with soft-bristled brushes and the participant's self-reported natural toothpaste (baking soda:
resultsBefore brushing, 78.2% of participants presented with thin adherent plaque, while the gingival status was normal in 72.3%, mildly inflamed in 22.8%, and moderately inflamed in 5.0%. After brushing, the proportion with normal gingiva increased to 77.2%, and the proportion of thin, adherent plaque decreased to 22.8%. Brushing frequency was positively correlated with plaque reduction (ρ = 0.42,
conclusionsA single supervised Bass-technique brushing session resulted in measurable short-term improvements in plaque and gingival indices among young adults. Sodium bicarbonate and lemon-based dentifrices appeared to be associated with slightly more favourable short-term gingival responses than charcoal, although these findings should be interpreted as preliminary. These findings emphasise the importance of consistent brushing and interdental cleaning behaviours and highlight the need for longitudinal randomised trials to evaluate the durability, safety, and comparative effectiveness of natural versus conventional dentifrices. Given the cross-sectional, single-session design, these findings are exploratory and do not establish causal or comparative product efficacy.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.