Using fluoride mouthrinses before or after toothbrushing: effect on erosive tooth wear.

1. To evaluate the use of fluoridated mouthrinses before or after toothbrushing on erosive tooth wear. 2. To compare the anti-erosive effect of the combination toothpaste and mouthrinse containing fluoride, with or without stannous chloride.Enamel and dentin specimens were randomly distributed into groups (n = 10 of each substrate/group): B-brushing, B + R-brushing + rinsing, and R + B-rinsing + brushing. The treatments were performed using a fluoride toothpaste (B: 1400 ppm fluoride, as amino fluoride-AmF) combined or not with a fluoride mouthrinse (R: 250 ppm fluoride, as AmF and sodium fluoride-NaF) or fluoride and stannous toothpaste (B: 1400 ppm fluoride, as AmF and NaF, 3500 ppm stannous, as stannous chloride-SnCl and 0.5% chitosan) combined or not with fluoride and stannous mouthrinse (R: 500 ppm fluoride, as AmF and NaF, 800 ppm stannous, as SnCl). As control, brushing was performed with artificial saliva (B). Specimens were submitted to a 5-day erosive-abrasive cycling model. Treatments were performed twice daily. Surface loss (SL) was determined by optical profilometry. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and Games-Howell tests (α = 0.05).For enamel, R+B and R+B presented significantly lower SL than the control, with R+B being significantly lower than R+B. For dentin, B had the lowest SL, not differing from B+R R+B and B. Groups R+B and B+R showed highest SL, not differing from B and B.For enamel, the use of a mouthrinse before brushing was able to reduce erosive wear for both fluoride and stannous products. For dentin, the use of stannous-containing products, irrespective of the order of application, presented superior effects.