Efficacy of Four Mounthrinses for Toothbrush Decontamination Against
Herpes Viruses.

J. KETTERING*, T. HANTZ, M. LIU, T. MEYER, AND J. STEPHENS. (Loma
Linda University School of Dentistry, Loma Linda, CA, USA)

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a widely spread microorganism, with
about one-third of the people in the U.S. having one recurrent
herpetic episode per year. It has been shown that HSV can survive on a
dry toothbursh for 48 hrs. and, in a moist environment, for seven
days. The purpose of this study was to determine whether four
mouthrinses could be effective agents for eliminating HSV type I
(HSV-1) from toothbrushes. The mouthrinse products contained either
cetvlpyridinium chloride (CPC), 3% H2O2, chlorhexidine glycol (CHX),
or essential oils (eucalyptol, thymol, methyl salucylate, and
menthol). The positive control was 5% bleach and the negative control
was saline. Fifty sterile brushes were inoculated with a standardized
HSV-I culture (>106 viruses/ml). Each toothbrush was then placed in an
individual sterile tube containing sufficient solution to completely
cover the contaminated bristles. Ten replicates were used per
treatment. The brushes were treated at room temp. for 30 min, removed
after treatment, excess mouthrinse displaced and transferred to tubes
containing 10 ml of saline. Tubes were vortexed for several seconds to
dislodge viable viruses and aliqouts of the wash were placed into
human fibroblast cell cultures. These cultures were incubated in CO2
at 37o C and monitored for a week. Fibroblast cell lysis indicated
virus growth. Positive and negative controls for virus killing worked
as expected. All four mouthrinses proved to be highly effective in
destroying HSV-I under the conditions described (p=0.01,
non-parametric Cochran's O test) when compared to the controls.
Products were also ranked according to their relative killing
effectiveness. Mouthrinses containing CHX and essential oils were most
effective, followed by those with CPC and H2O2. This study
demonstrated that any of the mouthrinses tested could be a cost
effective means of destroying HSV on toothbrushes and an aid in
reducing viral transmissions.

http://www.hivdent.org/oralm/oralmabeomftd0699.htm