Comparative evaluation of the antimicrobial efficacy of herbal mouthwash versus chlorhexidine mouthwash

Abstract Context: Chlorhexidine is considered as the "gold standard" anti-plaque agent over last three to four decades. Due to disadvantages of chlorhexidine, now a days an alternative is advisable, which is free from all the disadvantages of chlorhexidine. Aim and Objective: The study aims at finding herbal alternatives to chemical mouthwashes to avoid harmful side-effects and improve patient compliance and over all oral health. Materials and Methods: 160 dental students, 18 – 25 years of age were selected for this study from Santosh Dental College and Hospital, Ghaziabad. The study were divided randomly into two groups. Group -1 was advised to rinse with herbal mouthwash. Group-2 was advised to rinse with 0.12% chlorhexidine mouthwash. Result: Lesser side-effects were observed with herbal mouth-wash as comparison with Chlorhexidine mouth-wash and also these two mouthwashes shown equal effectiveness. Conclusion: The present study summarized that, Herbal mouthwashes have proved to be excellent antiplaque agents. In the present study, it is concluded that the herbal mouthwashes are equally good antimicrobial agents compared to CHX mouthwash with lesser side-effects and equally effective as well.