Efficacy of Listerine®, Meridol® and chlorhexidine mouthrinses as supplements to regular tooth‐cleaning measures

Abstract

The anti-plaque, anti-gingivitis and anti-microbial efficacies of a phenolic compound (Listerine) and 2 different amine/stannous fluoride mouthwashes (Meridol I, II) were compared when these solutions were used in addition to usual tooth cleaning. A placebo preparation was utilized as a negative control and a chlorhexidine solution as a positive control in this double-blind study. After professional tooth cleaning, 49 volunteers continued their habitual, self-performed and non-supervised oral hygiene for a period of 2 weeks, in order to have a more standard baseline. At day 0, they began to rinse twice daily with 1 of the 5 mouthwashes. After 3 weeks of rinsing, plaque indices remained the lowest in the chlorhexidine and the Meridol I groups, while subjects using Listerine or Meridol II demonstrated similar indices significantly lower than that of individuals rinsing with the placebo solution. Through this period, the gingival index scores were similar in the Meridol, Listerine and chlorhexidine groups. At day 21, the mean GI scores in the chlorhexidine group were significantly lower than the scores in the placebo group. The plaque vitality scores showed a bacterial effect in vivo of chlorhexidine and, to a lesser extent, of the Meridol solutions. No substantial evidence of an antibacterial effect in vivo was found for Listerine. This study has demonstrated that when mouthrinses are used to supplement habitual mechanical oral hygiene, chlorhexidine remains the most powerful solution. Furthermore, it was also shown that a combination of habitual self-performed and non-supervised oral hygiene with Meridol or Listerine is more beneficial for plaque control than the use of mechanical oral hygiene alone.

The effect of Probiotic mouthrinse on plaque and gingival inflammation

“…The subjects usually would improve their oral hygiene although they did not have the knowledge of the regimen administered to them. This was in agreement to another study by Brecx et.al (13) comparing the efficacy of Listerine, Meridol and Chlorhexidine on plaque and gingivitis, where it was demonstrated that mean PI scores in the placebo group decreased at day 7 due to the Hawthorne effect.…”

“…These side effects are brown discolouration of the teeth and tongue, oral mucosal erosion and taste perturbation (12). Several side-effects associated with its use have stimulated the search for new chlorhexidine solutions with various concentrations and flavoring agents, as well as alternative anti-plaque agents (13).…”

Antimicrobial Effect of Commercially Available Mouth Rinsing Solutions and Natural Herbal Extracts on Streptococcus mutans

“…Among various oral rinses, chlorhexidine is coupled to hydroxyapatite, brown pellicle and the plague and inhibits growth of bacteria by being activated by gradation for 12 to 24 hours when coupled to hydroxyapatite 7) . Weitz et al 8) argued that using 0.12% of chlorhexidine for toothbrushing reduced the plague and Brecx et al 9) reported that chlorhexidine and meridol were most effective in inhibiting the plague after comparing the inhibitory effects of listerine, a phenolic substance and meridol and chlorhexidine, solutions containing fluorinated amines. However, the long-term use leads to side effects such as tolerance 10) .…”

Healthy Lifestyle For Healthy Gums

“…The use of topical antibacterial agents to help reduce bacterial plaque may be beneficial for the prevention and treatment of gingivitis in some patients [54][55][56].…”

“…Active ingredients in the other two are chlorhexidine digluconate and triclosan [55]. If properly used, the addition of a topical anti-plaque agent to a gingivitis treatment regimen for patients with deficient plaque control will likely result in reduction of gingivitis [56]. However, experimental evidence indicates that penetration of topically applied agents into the gingival crevice is minimal [57].…”