Antimicrobial capacity of Aloe vera and propolis dentifrice against Streptococcus mutans strains in toothbrushes: an in vitro study

objectives: this study evaluated in vitro the efficiency of aloe vera and propolis dentifrice on reducing the contamination of toothbrush bristles by a standard strain of streptococcus mutans (atcc 25175; sm), after toothbrushing. material and methods: fifteen sterile toothbrushes were randomly divided into 5 toothbrushing groups: i (negative control): without dentifrice; ii: with fluoridated dentifrice; iii: with triclosan and gantrez dentifrice; iv (positive control): without dentifrice and irrigation with 10 ml of 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate; v: with aloe vera and propolis dentifrice. in each group, 1 sterile bovine tooth was brushed for 1 min, where the toothbrush bristles were contaminated with 25 μl of sm. after toothbrushing, the bristles were stored in individual test tubes with 3 ml of bhi under anaerobiosis of 37°c for 48 h. then, they were seeded with sterile swab in triplicate in the mitis salivarius - bacitracin culture medium. the samples were kept under anaerobiosis of 37°c for 48 h. scores were used to count the number of colony forming units (cfu). the results were submitted to the mann-whitney statistical test at 5% significance level. results: there was statistically significant difference (p<0.05) for the reduction of bristle contamination comparing groups ii, iii, iv and v to group i. conclusions: it may be stated that after toothbrushing, the aloe vera and propolis dentifrice reduced the contamination of toothbrush bristles by sm, without differentiation from the other chemical agents used.