Increased overnight fluoride concentrations in saliva, plaque, and plaque fluid after a novel two-solution rinse

Recent studies showed that salivary, plaque-fluid, and whole-plaque fluoride were significantly higher 120 min after subjects rinsed with a novel two-solution rinse than after they rinsed with a NaF rinse of the same fluoride concentration. In this study, the persistence of these increases was investigated overnight, a period of time that is more clinically relevant. Improved analytical techniques for the ultramicro determination of whole-plaque and plaque-fluid fluoride from the same sample are also described. Thirteen subjects abstained from toothbrushing for 48 hrs and rinsed for 1 min with a 12 mmol/L (228 ppm) NaF or the two-solution rinse before bedtime. Samples were then collected the following morning before breakfast: (1) Saliva samples were either clarified by centrifugation or acid-extracted with 1 mol/L HClO4; and (2) single-site molar plaque samples were centrifuged to obtain plaque fluid and/or extracted with 1 mol/L HClO4. Results showed that, compared with NaF, the two-solution rinse produced significantly higher fluoride concentrations in all samples: The concentration of fluoride in whole plaque and whole saliva following the new rinse exceeded concentrations found after the NaF rinse by factors of three and four, respectively, while in plaque fluid, the two-solution rinse produced about a two-fold increase over NaF values, which were near baseline levels. This increase, however, was only about 20% in centrifuged saliva. The increases in saliva and especially in plaque-fluid fluoride after the two-solution rinse indicate a greater remineralization potential, while the enhanced fluoride reservoirs found in plaque overnight after this rinse constitute a reserve that may release fluoride into the plaque fluid over an extended period of time.