Comparison of the efficacy of prophylaxis pastes with conventional abrasives or a new self-adjusting abrasive.

A newly developed prophylaxis paste that contains perlite as an abrasive medium (Cleanic) was compared to conventional prophylaxis pastes with regard to relative dentin and enamel abrasion, cleaning ability, and polishing power. Rubber cups and nylon brushes were used as paste carriers. Water, flour of pumice, and the dentin-polishing paste CCS 40 served as controls. The tested prophylaxis pastes, selected according to their popularity among clinicians, were CCS 250, Detartrine Z, Nupro Coarse, and Zircate. The Prophylaxis Paste Index was created to assess the clinical potential of the various prophylaxis pastes more accurately. The Index was computed for dentin as cleaning ability dended by relative dentin abrasion x surface roughness (in Ra) x 10, and for enamel as cleaning ability dended by relative enamel abrasion x surface abrasion (in Ra). On dentin and enamel, Cleanic consistently yielded low relative dentin and enamel abrasion values, a good cleaning ability, and low surface roughness scores with both rubber cups and nylon brushes. Of all tested prophylaxis pastes, Cleanic excelled in the Prophylaxis Paste Index on dentin and enamel and with both rubber cup and nylon brush applications. Therefore, a perlite-containing prophylaxis paste has broad professional therapeutic indications and may be used universally as a single paste to clean and polish both dentin and enamel.