Triclosan and sodium lauryl sulphate mouthwashes (I). Effects on salivary bacterial counts

A number of commonly used toothpaste ingredients, such as detergents, possess not inconsiderable antimicrobial activity. Additionally, specific ingredients including triclosan are now added to toothpastes to enhance such activity and to improve plaque inhibition. To date, there have been few studies of the antimicrobial properties in vivo of individual toothpaste ingredients. Most investigations have evaluated the whole toothpaste product. Persistence of antimicrobial action in vivo has been shown to relate to potential plaque inhibitory action. The aim of this study was to compare the magnitude and duration of salivary bacterial count reductions produced by a single rinse of 0.2% triclosan, 1% sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) and 0.2% chlorhexidine mouthwashes. 16 volunteers took part in a single-blind latin-square randomised crossover designed study with balanced residual effects. Before and for time periods up to 420 min following rinsing with the allocated mouthwashes, saliva samples were obtained and processed for total anaerobic counts. With the exception of the saline control rinse, the 3 test solutions produced considerable reductions in bacterial counts which remained significant to 3 h for triclosan and 7 h for SLS and chlorhexidine. However, at most time periods after baseline, the effects of chlorhexidine were significantly greater than triclosan and SLS. Overall, SLS had significantly greater effects than triclosan. Incremental values from 30 min post rinsing were always positive for SLS and triclosan, indicating bacterial recovery, whereas these values were negative for chlorhexidine. The results indicate that triclosan and SLS provide some persistence of antimicrobial activity in the oral cavity when used at relatively high dose compared to a toothpaste vehicle.