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. 2017:2017:5654373.
doi: 10.1155/2017/5654373. Epub 2017 Mar 2.

Effect of Herbal and Fluoride Mouth Rinses on Streptococcus mutans and Dental Caries among 12-15-Year-Old School Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Vinej Somaraj  1 , Rekha P Shenoy  2 , Ganesh Shenoy Panchmal  2 , Vijaya Kumar  3 , Praveen S Jodalli  2 , Laxminarayan Sonde  2
Affiliations

Effect of Herbal and Fluoride Mouth Rinses on Streptococcus mutans and Dental Caries among 12-15-Year-Old School Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Vinej Somaraj et al. Int J Dent. 2017.

Abstract

To assess and compare the effect of herbal and fluoride mouth rinses on Streptococcus mutans count and glucan synthesis by Streptococcus mutans and dental caries, a parallel group placebo controlled randomized trial was conducted among 240 schoolchildren (12-15 years old). Participants were randomly divided and allocated into Group I (0.2% fluoride group), Group II (herbal group), and Group III (placebo group). All received 10 ml of respective mouth rinses every fortnight for a period of one year. Intergroup and intragroup comparison were done for Streptococcus mutans count and glucan synthesis by Streptococcus mutans and dental caries. Streptococcus mutans count showed a statistically significant difference between Group I and Group III (p = 0.035) and also between Group II and Group III (p = 0.039). Glucan concentration levels showed a statistically significant difference (p = 0.024) between Group II and Group III at 12th month. Mean DMF scores showed no statistical difference between the three groups (p = 0.139). No difference in the level of significance was seen in the intention-to-treat and per-protocol analysis. The present study showed that both herbal and fluoride mouth rinses, when used fortnightly, were equally effective and could be recommended for use in school-based health education program to control dental caries. Trial registration number is CTRI/2015/08/006070.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no competing interests regarding the publication of this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of study protocol.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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