Comparative evaluation of the efficacy of different concentrations of chlorhexidine mouth rinses in reducing the mutants streptococci in saliva: An in vivo study

Background: Is low-concentration chlorhexidine effective against reducing the mutans streptococci (MS) in saliva? Aim: To compare the efficacy of different concentrations of chlorhexidine mouth rinses, i.e. 0.02%, 0.06% and 0.12%, in reducing the mutants streptococci count in saliva. Design: Forty subjects in the age group of 12-14 years were selected from the schools of Chennai and were equally divided into four groups. The first three were study groups and the fourth group was the control group. The subjects were instructed to rinse with a measured amount of mouth rinse for 1 min, twice-daily, for 1 week. Salivary samples were collected at baseline and 1 week after mouth rinsing with various concentrations and were cultured on MSB agar. The number of MS colonies was counted on agar medium under anaerobic conditions. Results: The results of the study confirmed that children using chlorhexidine of concentration 0.12% showed the maximum reduction in MS when compared with subjects using 0.02% and 0.06% concentrations. But, children using chlorhexidine of concentration 0.06% also showed significant reduction in MS when compared with the control group. Conclusion: From the above study, we conclude that chlorhexidine used in different concentrations (0.02%, 0.06%, 0.12%) efficiently reduced the mutans count.