Background: Herbal mouth rinses have an antimicrobial effect against cariogenic bacteria. This RCT was conducted to evaluate antimicrobial efficacy of the three mouth rinses(Pomegranate,Green tea,Garlic with lime extracts) against mutans bacteria in comparison to Chlorhexidine.
Subjects&methods: A group of 84 children( 5-8 years) were selected randomly from the clinic of pediatric dentistry department of Ain shams University. Children were divided into four equal groups (n=22).Group 1 was(Chlorhexidine),Group 2 was (Green tea extract), Group 3 was (Garlic with lime extract) and Group 4 was (Pomegranate extract). Children were asked to rinse with the prescribed mouth rinse for 1 minute. A baseline plaque sample was collected and tested for the number of CFUs before&after rinsing. Child satisfaction was assessed using likert scale.
Results: For all groups of the four studied mouth rinses, there was a significant decrease of bacterial count after treatment (p<0.001). The highest value of bacterial count was found in Garlic-lime group while the lowest value of bacterial count was found in the Pomegranate group.For all parameters (taste, smell and willing to use), there was a significant difference between different groups with Garlic-lime having significantly lower value than other groups (p<0.001),while Green tea having significantly higher value than others.
Conclusion: Pomegranate showed a better efficacy in controlling bacterial count than others, Garlic had the lowest efficacy. Green tea extract is the most tolerable mouth rinse in terms of taste and smell than other groups while Garlic is the least tolerable. Herbal mouth rinses can be an effective alternative to CHX.