An in vitro comparison of the antimicrobial effects of various endodontic medicaments on Enterococcus faecalis

The purpose of this in vitro study was to investigate the antimicrobial action of Dermacyn (Oculus Innovative Sciences, Petaluma, CA), BioPure MTAD (Dentsply Tulsa Dental, Johnson City, TN), 2% chlorhexidine (CHX; Ultradent, West Jordan, UT), and 5.25% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) against Enterococcus faecalis (American Type Culture Collection 4082). Eighteen Petri dishes of BHI agar were inoculated with E faecalis. Each Petri dish had five saturated paper disks placed. Four of the disks were saturated with a different test solution, and the last paper disk served as the control and was saturated with sterile distilled water. The plates were randomly distributed into two groups. Group one (n=9) was incubated aerobically and group 2 (n=9) was incubated anaerobically for 48 hours at 37 degrees C. The largest diameter of the zones of microbial inhibition was measured in millimeters and recorded. Statistical analysis was performed with repeated-measures analysis of variance. BioPure MTAD showed significantly (p<0.05) more zones of microbial inhibition than 5.25% NaOCl, 2% CHX, and Dermacyn. Sodium hypochlorite and CHX showed significantly (p<0.05) more zones of microbial inhibition than Dermacyn. The zone of inhibition between NaOCl and CHX was not significant (p>0.05). The control group showed no microbial inhibition.