Role of inorganic products with toothpaste on the biofilm development

Abstract

Biofilms have a significant effect on the development of numerous micro-organisms, as well in the case of waters intended for human consumption, as in the case of greywaters or natural resources. However, on the base of many analyses carried out on hundreds of biofilms, it was provenwithout any doubt that all the studied biofilms contain inorganic products sometimes in significant quantity. The characteristics of these inorganic products (formula, crystallinity) can be determined using the infrared absorption spectrometry based on CsBr micro-pellet analysis. These various products are analysed semi-quantitatively either directly by the measure of their absorbance or by comparing the absorbance before and after micro-pellet calcination. The calcination leads to the elimination of the organic compounds. The results show that the inorganic products are particularly abundant in the biofilms developed in the wastewater drains of domestic wash-hand basins, because of their remarkable abundance, due to very fast development kinetic. Thanks to the analysis methods, it is proven that silicon inorganic charges of the toothpastes are the main source of the development of these biofilms. In the case of non-domestic wash-hand basins, without toothpaste use, the biofilm development kinetic is lower.