To compare the effectiveness of different mouthrinses on Streptococcus mutans count in caries active children

The study was conducted in Institute of Dental studies and Technologies in department of Pedodontics and Preventive dentistry. The antimicrobial activity. of Chlorhexidine, Sodium fluoride and Herbal mouth rinse were evaluated for their efficacy against S. mutans in 60 children aged 6-12 years old. Plain water acted as the control group. Aakansha Sharma acted as the primary investigator and Dr. Nidhi Agarwal, Dr. Zohra Jabin, Dr. Ashish Anand were the other co investigators of the study.The values obtained were subjected to statistical analysis. ANOVA test, student-t test and paired t-test were used for evaluation. The ean DMFT/deft of the caries active children was 5.93. There was a statistically significant reduction of S. mutans seen in chlorhexidine and Fluoride mouthrinse group in the pre and post rinse values with a p value of 0.003 and0.028 respectively. Themean Streptococcus mutans count in pre- rinse groups were as follows: In groupI the mean S. mutans count was 1.259 * 105+ 1.174, in GroupII was 0.649* 105 + 0.987, in Group III was 1.624* 105 +2.276 while in Group IV it was 0.795* 105 + 1.427. The mean Streptococcus mutans count in post- rinse groupswere as follows:

In group I the mean S. mutans count was 0.214* 105+0.130,in Group II was 0.297* 105 + 0.446, in Group III was 0.238*105+ 0.217 while in Group IV it was 0.786* 105+1.405. There was a reduction in S. mutans  seen in hiora mouthrinse group however it was not statistically significant with a p- value of 0.057 . Water showed no reduction and a p- value of 0.184 was obtained for it when the pre and post rinse counts were compared. All the mouthrinses used in the present study have shown a definite decline in S. mutans count.