An in vivo evaluation of antimicro bial effects of Persica herbal mouthwash on Candida albicans and Enterococcus faecalis

Background and aim: due to their antimicrobial and dental plaque control activity, mouthwashes lead to animprovement in oral health. although chemical mouthwashes have demonstrated the greatest antimicrobial andanti-inflammatory effects, their usage has been limited because of their numerous side effects. this study wasconducted in vivo to determine the antibacterial and antifungal effects of persica herbal mouthwash containingsalvadore persica, mint, and yarrow in comparison with a placebo.methods: in this experimental, single-blind study, 80 dentistry students, who were eager to participate in the study,were randomly allocated into two groups of forty. one group was given persica while the other group received aplacebo. they were asked to apply the mouthwash twice a day for four weeks. the participants were unaware of themouthwash type. saliva sampling was conducted in all cases before and after mouthwash application and the sampleswere dispatched to a laboratory for microbial culture (sabouraud and clark-kenner media culture). after two weeks,the washout times in groups were swapped with each other and the sampling was conducted just like before. finally, thedata were analyzed using independent and paired t-test. p values of less than 0.05 were considered significant.results: the mean age of participants was 23.20 ± 4.14. persica mouthwash significantly decreased the count of candidaalbicans (1.43 ± 0.15 to 0.80 ± 0.35) (p < 0.001) and enterococcus faecalis (0.93 ± 1.76 to 0.71 ± 2.10) (p = 0.008).conclusion: the statistical tests revealed that applying persica mouthwash would result in a significant decrease inthe candida albicans and enterococcus faecalis count. regarding the significant and desirable effect of persica oncandida albicans and enterococcus faecalis, and its herbal origin, its application could be suggested to reduce oralmicrobes and infections from fungi and enterococci.