Comparison of Efficacy of Alcohol Versus Non-Alcohol Based Antiseptic Mouthwashes in Growth Inhibition of Periodontal Disease and Dental Caries Causing Buccal Bacteria

Abstract

Greater than 700 species of bacteria are known to reside in the human buccal/oral cavity. Of these less than 50% have been cultured successfully. Our purposes are to use culture-dependent methods to isolate aerobic and facultative anaerobes as pure cultures from all parts of the oral cavities of two study subjects, to isolate pure bacterial cultures from nine sites from two healthy subjects. Sites to be swabbed include tongue dorsum, lateral sides of tongue, buccal epithelium, and hard palate, and soft palate, supragingival plaque of tooth surfaces, subgingival plaque, maxillary anterior vestibule, and tonsils. The resulting pure cultures will be identified through Gram staining, selective and differential media, biochemical tests, motility and other lab tests. Bacteria known and suspected to play an important role in periodontal disease and dental caries will be subject to sensitivity tests using discs impregnated with different brand named alcohol based and non-alcohol based antiseptic mouthwashes. Comparison of the efficacy of different mouth washes will be based on the zone of bacterial growth inhibition. Our results will be analyzed based on the diameter of the zone of bacterial growth inhibition and statistically compare the efficacy of the different antiseptics. Our overarching aim is to be able to make sound recommendations based on scientific reasoning on the best commercial mouthwashes to be used and to determine whether our findings mirror current thinking and research findings.