A Comparison of Commercial Mouthwashes Towards Oral Pathogens Biofilms in vitro

Many types of mouthwash are widely sold on the market. These often include essential oils, chlorhexidine, povidone-iodine, and chlorine dioxide as ingredients. This study aims to determine the differences in vitro capacity of commercial mouthwashes containing essential oils, chlorhexidine, povidoneiodine, or chlorine dioxide against multispecies biofilms Streptococcus mutans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Fusobacterium nucleatum. The experiment was carried out using a crystal violet biofilm assay method. Multispecies biofilms were tested against the four commercial types of mouthwash. The results showed that four commercial mouthwashes were effective in inhibiting multispecies biofilms with reduction percentage of 54% - 91%. The one-way ANOVA results showed that all mouthwashes have a significant effect on reducing the number of biofilms compared to the control. (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference among groups of mouthwashes containing essential oils (EO), chlorhexidine (CHX), povidone-iodine (PVP I), or chlorine dioxide (ClO2) in inhibiting the formation of multispecies biofilms. The findings indicated that all four tested types of mouthwash have a similar capacity to inhibit the analyzed biofilm microorganisms, although there were differences in the capacity of the mouthwashes to eradicate biofilms over time.