Comparison of the Efficacy of Probiotic, Chlorhexidine and Sodium Fluoride Mouth Rinses on Mutans Streptococci (MS) in 8 to 12 yrs Old Indian Children

Background: There has been a paradigm shift in our understanding of dental caries with an emphasis on effective plaque management. The use of probiotics, aimed at maintaining microbial homeostasis in plaque, is an emerging trend in this direction. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of probiotic, chlorhexidine and sodium fluoride mouth rinses on mutans streptococci (MS) in 8 to 12 year old Indian children.

Method: 51 healthy children with a total caries score between 4 and 10 were selected for this three group crossover randomized controlled trial. Each intervention phase spanned 2 weeks with a washout period of 4 weeks between the interventions. Chlorhexidine and sodium fluoride were dispensed as solutions and probiotic as a powder. Saliva samples were collected before and after each phase. The efficacy of the three mouth rinses on mean change of colony counts of MS was compared using t test and ANOVA with α at 0.05 and β <0.2.

Results: An intergroup comparison using an Intent to Treat analysis revealed no significant difference between the three mouth rinses on the mean change in MS counts (F = 0.171, p >0.05). Crossover also did not have any significant effect on the MS counts (F = 0.685, p >0.05). Age (p = 0.246) and gender (p = 0.425) also had no significant effect on the efficacy of the mouth rinses.

Conclusion: There was no difference in the efficacy of the three mouth rinses suggesting that probiotic mouth rinse is as effective as chlorhexidine and sodium fluoride on MS.