Surface free energies and elemental surface compositions of human enamel after application of commercially available mouthrinses and adsorption of salivary constituents.

The adsorption of active agents from six commercially available mouthrinses to ground and polished enamel, with and without adsorbed salivary constituents, was monitored by contact angle measurements and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Human enamel samples were treated with mouthrinses containing chlorhexidine (Peridex), stannous fluoride/amine fluoride (Meridol), thymol/benzoic acid (Listerine), sanguinarine (Veadent), sodium fluoride (Prodent), or cetylpyridinium chloride (Merocet). XPS indicated a sizeable adsorption of both active and non-active components for all products. After treatment, all enamel surface free energies increased except for the stannous fluoride/amine fluoride containing mouthrinse. It is suggested that non-active components in the products cause an increase in surface free energy. Despite this thermodynamically unfavorable increase in surface free energy, all rinses have plaque reducing effects, indicating that this unfavorable surface characteristic is overruled by the antibacterial properties of the components. Replacement of non-active components by less adsorbing surfactants could increase the efficiency of the products tested.