Preventive action of short-term and long-term chlorhexidine rinses.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of 0.12% chlorhexidine mouthrinses on the presence of plaque and gingivitis, either used as the only oral hygiene practice during a short period of time (21 days) or associated with routine daily brushing for 180 days. The experimental subjects were 40 dental students of an average age of 20.9 years. Following a thorough examination and mechanical prophylaxis. The subjects were divided into two treatment groups. Twenty subjects stopped all oral hygiene procedures for 21 days except for twice-daily rinses with 0.12% chlorhexidine or a placebo. Plaque, gingivitis scores and oral soft tissue health were recorded on days 0, 7, 14 and 21 for the short term group and on days 0, 90 and 180 of experimentation for the long term group. After 21 days of rinsing, plaque accumulation, gingivitis and bleeding on probing were significantly lower in the chlorhexidine group than in the placebo group. After three and six months of mouthrinses, the chlorhexidine group had less plaque and significantly less gingivitis than the placebo group. No significant differences in adverse oral soft tissue effects were observed between the different groups. It was concluded that a 0.12% chlorhexidine digluconate mouthrinse can provide an important adjunct to the prevention and control of gingivitis when used as the only oral hygiene practice or with regular personal hygiene procedures. The results obtained in this clinical study, using stringent parameters of evaluation with statistic analysis, corroborated the results obtained by other studies.