Effect of 4 days of mouth rinsing with delmopinol or chlorhexidine on the vitality of plaque bacteria.

Delmopinol is a new surface active anti-plaque agent that has demonstrated a low antimicrobial effect in vitro. By use of a vitality staining technique, the antimicrobial effect on bacteria in plaque samples was tested after rinsing with delmopinol or chlorhexidine. 6 healthy male subjects volunteered to rinse for 4 days using a double-blind cross-over study design with a wash-out period between the rinsing regimens. No oral hygiene measures were allowed during the test periods and each test period started with a professional tooth cleaning procedure 2 days before the start of rinsing to allow for plaque formation. Rinsing was performed with 0.2% delmopinol hydrochloride or 0.2% chlorhexidine digluconate 2 x a day. Small samples of plaque were collected from the buccal surfaces of premolars and 1st molars before the first rinse on day 1 and then before and 1, 2, 4, 7, and 24 h after the last rinse on the 4th day. The plaque samples were immediately stained with propidium iodide and fluorescein diacetate to visualize dead and vital microorganisms respectively. The vitality of the microflora was evaluated using a fluorescence microscope. The baseline vitality values were 91% for chlorhexidine and 86% for delmopinol. At day 4, the plaque vitality for chlorhexidine was approximately 40% up to 4 h and 50% at 7 h and 60% at 24 h after the last rinse. Corresponding values for plaque vitality after delmopinol rinsing were between 70 and 80% on all sampling occasions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes