EFFECTIVENESS OF HERBAL MOUTHWASH VS CHLORHEXIDINE MOUTHWASH ON THE BACTERIAL COUNT IN ORTHODONTIC PATIENTS

Dental plaque formation is an integral step in the formation of dental caries. Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) is considered as the main colonizer in this multi-species dental biofilm. During orthodontic treatment, an increase upto 5-fold in the number of S. mutans has been observed. There have been attempts made to reduce the plaque formation and one of them is the use of mouth rinse. It has shown an effective reduction in dental plaque. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of herbal mouthwash on the bacterial count in orthodontic patients. Materials and methodology: 20 subjects were enrolled in the study. These were divided into 2 groups. Group 1 consisted of 10 patients with conventional ligation who were prescribed 0.2% chlorhexidine mouthwash and group 2 consisted of 10 subjects with self-ligation brackets who were prescribed Herbostra mouthwash. All the statistical analysis was performed in SPSS. Wilcoxon signed rank test was done to evaluate the difference in the mean of S. mutans count before and after the use of chlorhexidine mouthwash in conventional ligation group and herbostra mouthwash in self-ligation group. Mann whitney U test was performed to evaluate the difference in S. mutans count in the Herbostra group and Chlorhexidine group. Result- Wilcoxon signed rank test reported that there was a reduction in S. mutans count and it was found it be statistically non-significant (T-value-0.59, T>0.05). Similarly, S. mutans count before and after rinse with Herbostra and it was found to be statistically non-significant (T value 0.53, T>0.05). Mann whitney U test reported that the difference of S. mutans count in conventional ligation group and self-ligation group and it was found to be statistically non-significant (T-value-0.280, T>0.05).

Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, it can be concluded that neither chlohexidine nor Herbostra mouthwash had an effect on the S. mutans count in different types of ligation. Proper oral hygiene measures should be carried out by an orthodontic patient regardless of the method of ligation to reduce the S. mutans count.