EVALUATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL PROPERTY OF HERBAL MOUTHWASH USING CRANBERRY EXTRACT: A PILOT STUDY

Background: Oral diseases caused by dental plaque continue to affect the majority of the world's population. Among them, dental caries is the single most prevalent and preventable oral infectious disease. Cranberry is used as fresh fruit, juice, and also as medicine. It has antimicrobial, anti inflammatory and antitumor activities. It is also known to induce bacterial adhesion in various systemic infections. However, it is less identified for its dental use. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate its effect against oral infections.

Aim: The aim of the study was to use the cranberry extract to evaluate the antimicrobial property of herbal mouthwash.

Materials and Methods: This particular study was a single blinded, parallel group clinical trial conducted in Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Chennai. It comprised of a total of 10 subjects with fair gingival index (aged 18–22 years) were randomly divided into groups and given 5 ml of chlorhexidine mouthwash and cranberry mouthwash twice daily to Group A (n=5) and Group B (n=5) respectively, for 7 days each. Plaque samples were collected at baseline and after 7 days of using mouthwash and the microbial count was assessed.

Results and Discussion: This study proves that the microbial count before and after use of cranberry and chlorhexidine mouthwash has significantly reduced. There was a statistically significant (p<0.05) difference between baseline mean number of CFU/ml and after 7 days in both chlorhexidine and cranberry groups. For the cranberry group, mean reduction was 52%, whereas mean reduction in chlorhexidine group was 53% after usage.

Conclusion: This study showed that the microbial count had significantly reduced in both the groups. Therefore, herbal products such as cranberry proved to be more effective or similar alternatives to chlorhexidine in improving the oral health with added benefits and minimal side effects.