An in vivo comparison of the antimicrobial activities of three mouthrinses

The purpose of this ill vivo study was to determine and compare the antimic robial effectiveness of three commercial mouthrinses and a water control. T he antimicrobial efficacy of the products was determined against aerobic, m icroaerophilic, and anaerobic bacteria. Twenty human subjects participated in this study. At each experimental session for a given subject, a pre-test saliva sample was taken. This sample was divided and used to grow three ba cteria cultures under the different incubation environments. After giving t he pre-test sample, the subject rinsed with one of the mouthrinses or the w ater control for 30 seconds, then waited one hour, at which time a post-tes t saliva sample was collected. Again, the sample was divided and used to cu lture the different types of bacteria. Following a 48-hour incubation perio d, the numbers of microbial colonies on each plate were counted and compare d. The results indicated that all of the mouthrinses tested performed signi ficantly better than the water control. Herbal Mouth and Gum Therapy(R) and Peridex(R) did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference in i nhibiting aerobic, microaerophilic, and anaerobic bacteria. Both Herbal Mou th and Gum Therapy and Peridex were significantly more effective than Liste rine in inhibiting the three different types of bacteria.