Abstract

The increase of opportunistic pathogens in the oral biofilm triggers the development of periodontal diseases. In order to prevent these diseases, a wide variety of chemical plaque removal oral care products are used. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the in vitro antimicrobial activities of 7 different commercially available essential oils and Chlorhexidine gluconate (CHX) mouthwash against four different standard bacterial strains and to compare the antimicrobial effects of essential oils with CHX solution. The antimicrobial activity of different commercially available essential oils and CHX solution against the most common oral bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans), Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) and Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) strains were analyzed comparatively. Antimicrobial activity was investigated by disc diffusion method. Thyme oil showed the highest antimicrobial effect on S. aureus and B. subtilis against the other test products (p=0.006 and p=0.004, respectively), while CHX showed the highest effect against S. mutans and E. faecalis species (p=0.006 and p=0.006, respectively). Thyme, peppermint and rosemary oils showed no significant difference in antimicrobial activity compared to CHX against S. aureus (p=0.479, p=0.164 and p=0.164, respectively), S. mutans (p=0.301, p=0.072 and p=0.072, respectively) and B. subtilis (p=0.072, p=0.072 and p=0.813, respectively) strains. Due to their effects on oral pathogens, essential oils such as thyme oil, peppermint oil, and rosemary oil have been considered as potential alternatives to CHX solution as oral antiseptic solutions.

Key words: Antimicrobial activity, essential oils, chlorhexidine, mouthwash