ANTI-STAINING ANTIBACTERIAL DENTIFRICE

An anti-staining, antibacterial dentifrice comprises an anti-staining effective amount of an orally acceptable polymer or copolymer that comprises a plurality of monomeric groups of formula (I) wherein (a) one of A and A' is hydrogen and the other is a moiety (X)n(R)m, (b) n in individual such moieties is independently 0 or 1, (c) linking groups X if present independently comprise an oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, phosphorus or silicon atom, (d) where n is 0, m is 1, and where n is 1, m is independently an integer from 1 to 3 as determined by X, (e) terminal groups R are independently hydrogen or C1-18 organic radicals, and (t) M and M' are independently selected from hydrogen, alkali metal and ammonium; said polymer or copolymer having an average molecular weight of at least about 1,000. The dentifrice further comprises an antibacterial effective amount of an orally acceptable halogenated diphenylether antibacterial agent, and an antibacterial enhancing effective amount of an orally acceptable polyvinylmethylether/maleic anhydride copolymer.