Purpose: To compare the effectiveness of ayurvedic, homeopathic and conventional dentifrices on plaque and saliva in terms of cariogenic bacteria, salivary pH, and plaque pH.
Materials and Methods: This double-blinded, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial was performed at Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Chennai, India. The participants comprised healthy adults possessing more than 20 permanent natural teeth and having a Decayed Missing and Filled Teeth (DMFT) score, plaque index score, and gingival index score less than or equal to 2. There were 3 intervention groups: 1: herbal dentifrice (Dabur Meswak); 2: homeopathic dentifrice (Gum Forte gel); 3: fluoride dentifrice (Colgate Total). The outcome measures were as follows: plaque and saliva samples were evaluated for pH; colony counts of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus at baseline, 14 and 28 days of follow-up. One-way and repeated measures ANOVA, Wilcoxon signed-rank and Kruskal Wallis tests were used to compare the mean differences of plaque and salivary pH and plaque and salivary S. mutans and Lactobacillus counts at baseline, 14 and 28 days.
Results: The mean S. mutans and Lactobacillus counts in plaque and saliva decreased statistically significantly in all treatment groups at the 28-day follow-up. Mean plaque pH was not statistically significantly different at the 14-day follow-up (p-value = 0.16). On the 28th day, group 1 (7.64 ± 0.20) showed the highest increase in plaque pH followed by group 2 (7.39 ± 0.25) and group 3 (7.27 ± 0.19), which was found to be statistically significant. No statistically significant difference in mean salivary pH was observed between the three groups at the different time points.
Conclusion: This study reveals that the herbal dentifrice tested here was effective in reducing cariogenic bacterial count and increasing the plaque pH, thereby warranting the usage of the same.