Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Oral and Dental Medicine - Department of Operative Dentistry

Aim: Investigate the caries preventive, antibacterial effect and prevalence of oral side effects of two natural mouthwashes compared to chlorhexidine mouthwash in high-caries-risk patients . Methodology: Participants categorized as high-caries-risk according to CAMBRA caries risk assessment tool were selected. Baseline DMF scores were obtained. Baseline salivary samples were sent for microbial analysis to estimate mutans streptococci (MS) and lactobacilli (LB) counts in colony forming units (CFU/ml). A total of 63 participants were randomly allocated to three groups according to the mouthwash used: G1 (Gum Arabic), G2 (Licorice) and G3 (Chlorhexidine). Participants used the mouthwash once daily for 1 week. This regimen was repeated monthly for one year. DMF scores, salivary samples and oral side effects were recorded after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. The obtained results were subjected to statistical analysis using IBM®-SPSS® (IBM Corporation, USA) Statistics Version 20 and the significance level was set at p{u2264}0.05. Two-way ANOVA was used to test the interaction between variables. One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey{u2019}s post-hoc test was used to compare between more than two groups . Results: Regarding DMF scores, no statistically significant difference was found between three groups at baseline, after 3, 6 and 9 months at p=0.382, p=0.382, p=0.344 and p=0.246 respectively. After 12 months, a statistically significant difference was found between G3 and each of G1 and G2 at p=0.002 and p=0.006 respectively. No statistically significant difference was found between G1 and G2 at p=0.898. Regarding antibacterial activity, after 6 months; all mouthwashes showed significant antibacterial effect and no statistically significant difference was found between them against MS and LB at p=0.029 and p=0.087 respectively

Issued also as CD