The mode of action of chlorhexidine

Radioactive chlorhexidine * ( 14 C labeled in the phenyl rings) was used to study absorption by and desorption From Streptococcus mulans and teeth. When S. mutans was grown in brain heart infusion broth, the rate of absorption by the bacteria was rapid, but when bacteria were grown in medium containing sucrose, absorption was slow apart from an initial rapid phase. Very slow absorption was observed by organisms grown on wire immersed in the sucrose medium. Thus there appears to have been some barrier delaying absorption when the culture medium contained sucrose. Studies with human teeth showed considerable variation between teeth but the rates of absorption and desorption were generally slow.