Effectiveness of Antimicrobial Solutions on Streptococcus mutans in used Toothbrushes

Purpose: The objective was to determine the effectiveness of antimicrobial solutions on Streptococcus mutans in used tooth brushes. Methods: Sixty children used their toothbrushes twice a day, for seven consecutive days. The toothbrush bristles were then immersed into antimicrobial solutions for 12 hours: Group I-3% neem; group II-5% turmeric; group III-0.5% cetylpyridinium chloride, group IV-0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate. They were then placed into test tubes containing the resultant suspensions were three-fold diluted. Aliquots of 0.1 ml were plated in Mitis Salivarius Agar (enriched with sucrose) using dilution and plating method. Incubation was done in an anaerobic jar for 72 hours at 37°C. Results: The results obtained showed that there was 88% reduction in the Streptococcus mutans in the 3% neem group, 86% reduction in the Streptococcus mutans in the 0.5% cetylpyridinium chloride group,78% reduction in the Streptococcus mutans in the 5% turmeric group, 65% reduction in the Streptococcus mutans in the 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate group. The difference between them was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Bacterial contamination of toothbrushes was a major cause of concern. All the antimicrobial solutions used in this study proved to be effective toothbrush decontaminants. The efficacy of 3% neem was highest in our study followed by 0.5% cetylpyridinium chloride, 5% turmeric and 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate.