GUM PerioShield Oral Health Rinse: A New Innovation

Dr. Jeff Rohde, DDS, MS

Dentalcompare

Clinical Director

About Author

Through all the changes in oral rinses in the last few years, the advances seem to be limited more to recombining ingredients in new ways to add features. It’s kind of like taking a cell phone, and adding a camera to it. Recently, Sunstar Butler released a new product for your patients that adds an entirely new element.  Rather than stuffing the rinse with alcohol, they added a new ingredient called Delmopinol.

• How is this different from the rest of the extensive lineup of oral rinses?  This ingredient is designed to break down the plaque itself, not just kill the bacteria in the plaque. Delmopinol breaks down polysaccharides that holds the plaque biofilm together. Once it has completed that job, it hangs on to the tooth and works to inhibit future plaque formation.
• So does it really work? Twenty nine scientific studies show that it did. These studies covered everything from measuring gingival bleeding, to measuring the amount of plaque reduction, to testing whether or not it stained the teeth.
• Who is this product for? Most people are not perfect at brushing their teeth, and other accumulate plaque and calculus faster than others. Unless you are that patient that comes in every six months with almost nothing your teeth, this rinse is for you.

The rinse comes in this electric blue bottle, although the rinse itself is actually clear. The taste and feel in your mouth does not have a harsh alcohol component to it. However, this rinse does have sort of a spice component to it, reminiscent of anise or fennel. Keep in mind this is not necessarily a fresh breath shot of Binaca. It’s meant to be medicinal to get your patients healthy. Anyone who has run a course of Chlorhexidine will understand that difference in taste.

Often we have patients that, on the surface, appear to have great hygiene. Once the cleaning starts, however, bleeding in between the gums becomes more obvious. One possible application of this new oral rinse would be to incorporate it into devices such as a WaterPik or AirFloss. Considering the difficulty of cleaning interproximal spaces, this may be a perfect adjunt to preventing interproximal gingivitis and caries.