Verónica Cárcamo O.; Patricio Oliva M. & Patricio González C.

Summary

Chamomile mouthwash is a natural product, does not cause stains, taste disturbances, is non-toxic and can be used by pregnant patients, the elderly and children. An experimental study was performed with the aim of determining the antimicrobial effectiveness of mouthwash produced from Matricaria recutita extract l, Puelche Manzanilla Primavera Type, which was produced by the Department of Basic Sciences, of the Dentistry Faculty of the Universidad del Desarrollo.Thirty two patients were recruited using a non-probability sampling, employees from the School of Dentistry. The methodology of work was defined by the application of chamomile mouthwash (CM) in 5 patients (experimental group), saline (SF) in 6 patients (negative control) and 0.12% chlorhexidine (CX) in 7 patients (positive control). Samples were taken from the cheek mucosa and upper first molar bucal surface, prior to the application of chamomille mouthwash and 7 time intervals. The samples were grown under aerobic conditions at 37°C for 48 hours. This was followed by bacterial count. The results, like homogeneous variance, were analyzed by ANOVA and Kruskall-Wallis to heterogeneous variances. It was shown that the bacterial count did not differ significantly with the time analyzed for mucosa (CM pvalue: 0.2507. CX pvalue: 0.1769, Pvalue SF: 0.9387 and tooth (CM pvalue <0.2540). CX pvalue: 0.2859. pvalue SF: 0.3471) showing that no result gives a pvalue <0.05, within 7 days of application. Thus it was concluded that the frequency of clinical use of chamomile mouthwash, presents a greater reduction in bacterial load every 4 to 6 hours.

KEY WORDS: Chamomile, Mouthwash, Antibacterial, oral mucosa.

How to cite this article

CÁRCAMO, O. V.; OLIVA, M. P. & GONZÁLEZ, C. P. Antimicrobial effectiveness of Matricaria recutita mouthwash in the dentistry faculty employees of the Universidad del Desarrollo. Int. J. Odontostomat., 5(2):179-184, 2011.