Antimicrobial Effect of Mouthwashes: An In vitro study.

Mechanical tooth cleaning, by means of a toothbrush, remains the most reliable and common method for controlling supra-gingival plaque. However, poor patient compliance has reduced the usefulness of such measures, as not all individuals are likely to follow the optimal oral hygiene regimen. Consequently, chemotherapeutic agents (e.g. Mouthwashes) are recommended for use as adjuncts to mechanical plaque control. Few of these mouthwashes, however, have undergone testing, as evidenced by the amount of information on their safety and efficacy in literature. Based on this scanty information, the present study was designed to evaluate anti-microbial effect of different mouthwashes by using standard agar well diffusion method and to determine their suitability for regular usage.

A total of eight mouthwashes was tested for their anti-microbial activity against three oral pathogens namely, Streptococcus mutans (MTCC 890), Escherichia coli (MTCC 579) and Candida albicans (MTCC 854) by well agar diffusion assay.

Triclosan containing mouthwash showed higher zones of inhibition against all the organisms tested (p<0.05) as compared to the Chlorhexidine gluconate and Potassium nitrate formulations.

This study shows that mouthwash formulations containing triclosan are more effective in controlling the oral microflora compared to Chlorhexidine gluconate and Potassium nitrate formulations.