Two years oral use of chlorhexidine in man

Abstract

One hundred twenty students maintained similar oral hygiene procedures for two years, except that 61 students rinsed once daily with a chlorhexidine gluconate solution and the remaining 59 students with a placebo solution. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for chlorhexidine was determined for a number of salivary bacterial strains at various intervals during and after the treatment. It was concluded that chlorhexidine treatment created a selective pressure on the salivary microflora resulting in a slight change in distribution toward those organisms which were less sensitive to chlorhexidine. This change diminished after cessation of the treatment, and the distribution in the chlorhexidine group approached that of the placebotreatment group.