Comparison of antimicrobial efficacy of Acacia catechu mouthrinse and HiOra herbal mouthrinse and their influence on Streptococcus mutans count and Lactobacillus spp. count in children with early childhood caries.

Background: Early childhood caries (ECC) is a chronic, infectious disease affecting young children. Though several preventive methods/measures are, the awareness about the benefits of a Ayurvedic preparation and its limited side effects is high. Thus, aim of this study was to compare efficacy of Ayurvedic formulations in reduction of the micro-organism causing ECC.

Method: In a double-blind randomized, placebo-controlled trial 60 children between 6 and 71 months age with ECC were divided into group I (n=20, control group), group II (n=20, Acacia catechu group) and group III (n=20, HiOra group). Unstimulated saliva was collected pre and after 16^th day post mouthrinse. The baseline microbiological colony count was performed for Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus spp. The results obtained were statistically analysed using non parametric test.

Results: There was significant reduction in the amount of colony-forming units (cfu) between the control and the treatment groups. In the HiOra group the reduction of cfu was tendentially greater (p>0.05) than in the Acacia catechu group. In the HiOra group only significant reduction of Streptococcus (S.) mutans was seen, whereas in the Acacia catechu group significant reduction of S. mutans and Lactobacillus spp. was seen.

Conclusion: Reduction in total microorganisms was less significant among the experimental groups. However the reduction in total colony count was greater in HiOra followed by Acacia catechu and the control group showed lesser reduction value.