Efficacy of BioMin F and NovaMin toothpastes against streptococcus mutans: an in vitro study.

Objective: This in vitro study was accomplished to demonstrate the antibacterial efficacy of BioMin F and NovaMin toothpastes against the recently-isolated Streptococcus Mutans in comparison with a commonly used fluoride toothpaste.

Materials and methods: Dental plaque collection method was adopted to isolate streptococcus mutans in children with dental caries. Then an ideal Streptococcus Mutans colony was incubated in 20 Petri dishes that contained Mueller-Hinton medium. Each dish had 3 wells; one well for each toothpaste (BioMin F, NovMin, and Signal) to perform the agar diffusion test. After incubating for 24 hours, the inhabitation zone around each well of each Petri dish was noticed and measured. Statistical Analysis was achieved using a statistical package, SPSS Windows version 17, by applying Kruskal-Wallis with Mann-Whitney U test (α = 0.05).

Results: BioMin F showed the highest mean of inhibition zone diameter ( $\overline{x}$  = 2.67 mm) in compared with NovaMin and Signal ( $\overline{x}$  = 0.39 mm and $\overline{x}$  = 2.19 mm; p < 0.001 in each pairwise comparison).

Conclusion: BioMin F toothpaste showed superior antibacterial effect against Streptococcus mutans to Signal and NovaMin toothpastes. Novamin showed the lowest antibacterial effect. This in vitro study suggests that BioMin F toothpaste shows encouraging potential to be recommended as a preventive measure to reduce the caries risk.