Antimicrobial activity of dentifrices uused in children's oral hygine: in vitro study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of different dentifrices used in children's oral hygiene against 16 S. mutans strains of isolated from children's saliva. The dentifrices were categorized according to the presence/concentration of fluoride and addition or not of natural products in their composition, as follows: A- sodium fluoride- 1100 ppm; B- sodium fluoride- 1000 ppm and propolis; C- sodium fluoride- 500 ppm; D-fluoride sodium 500 ppm and mallow extract; E- 0.76% sodium monofluorophosphate; F-sodium monofluorophosphate -1000 ppm; G- aloe-vera/propolis/copper-chlorophyll complex. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated using the agar diffusion method (disc technique). After preparation of the microbial suspension according to the 0.5 density of McFarland scale and seeding, 20 µl of the supernatant of each dentifrice were pipetted in paper discs and taken to BHIA culture medium. The inhibition halos surrouding the discs were measured and the values were analyzed statistically using the Quade test. Dentifrices A, B and G inhibited 100% of the strains, denoting a significantly higher antimicrobial activity than the other dentifrices evaluated (p<0.05). Dentifrice E (44%) did not differ statistically from dentifrices C (69%) and D (56%), which, in turn, had significantly lower antimicrobial activity than dentifrice F (87%).