Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of herbal and fluoridated toothpastes on plaque and gingival scores among 18- to 25-year-old female participants residing in a working women's hostel. Materials and Methods: Sixty participants residing in a working women's hostel in Belgaum city, aged between 18 and 25 years, comprised the study population. The 60 participants were randomly allocated to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group was asked to use a herbal toothpaste (Himalaya Herbal Healthcare) and the control group a fluoridated toothpaste (Colgate Dental Cream) twice a day for 6 weeks. The plaque and gingival indices were recorded according to Silness and Löe (1964) and Löe and Silness (1963), respectively, at baseline, 3 weeks and 6 weeks of usage of the toothpastes. Results: Baseline plaque and gingival scores were 1.53 ± 0.9 and 1.22 ± 0.13 for the control group and 1.30 ± 0.15 and 1.19 ± 0.12 for the experimental group, respectively. At 6 weeks, plaque and gingival scores were 0.86 ± 0.18 and 0.80 ± 0.2 for the control group and 0.99 ± 0.14 and 0.9 ± 0.21 for the experimental group, respectively. Statistically significant differences were obtained before and after the intervention in both groups (P 0.001). Conclusion: The herbal toothpaste was as effective as the conventionally formulated dentifrice in controlling plaque and gingivitis. Keywords: fluoridated toothpaste, gingival index, herbal toothpaste, plaque index