The Effect of German Chamomile Mouthwash on Dental Plaque and Gingival Inflammation

Dental plaque is a we ll known etio log ic fact or for gingiv itis . rec ently, herbal extra cts arc amatter of sc ientific interest to inhibit plaque accumul ation on teeth . the purpose of this studywas to eva luate the effects of germ an chamomile (gc) mouth wash on plaqu e and gingivalindic es.twenty five gin gi viti s patients ( 15 fem ale and 10 male, mean age 27±7.76 years)participated in this controll ed, double bl ind cross-over study. the subj ects used either gc or acontrol rinse for 2 min twice a day dur ing a 4 weeks period. the other mouth rinse was usedafter a wash-out period of 4 weeks in the same way. the plaque and gi ngiva l indices wererecorded at baseline and afte r each experimenta l or was h-out per iod . furthermore, stain indicesfor intens ity and extend were recorded to evaluate the tooth staining effects of the rnouthrinses.the mean reduction in plaque and ging iva l scores we re determined by usin g the test or controlmou thwash and statis tica lly analyzed by paired sam ple t- test. the stain intensity and ex tendin eac h period of the study were a lso ana lyzed by the two-way anova.the gc mouthwas h lowered bo th plaque and ging ival scores sig nifican tly in comparisonto the control rinse (p:so.ooi), whil st there was no significant difference in stain inten sity orextend between the basel ine and after eac h period of the study. there was also no report of anyadverse reactions during the use of mouth rinses in this the study .using gc mouthwash appears to offer benefit in plaque and ging ival reduction without anysig nificant adve rse effects on tooth staining.