Comparative Evaluation of Three Herbal Solutions on the Disinfection of Guttapercha Cones: An In vitro Study

Guttapercha (GP) cones are usually supplied in aseptic, sealed packages from the manufacturers, but once exposed to the dental office environment or even by handling; they can be contaminated by a number of microorganisms. Supplementary decontamination of GP cones is critical. As they cannot be sterilized by moist or dry heat, cold sterilization, using disinfectants should be used.

The aim of the study was to evaluate rapid, reliable, convenient and effective method of disinfection of GP cones using readily available herbal solutions such as Aloevera Juice, Amla Juice and Pancha Tulsi.

Ninety GP cones were selected for the study. Based on the contaminants used, 80 GP cones were divided into two groups: Group A and Group B with 40 cones in each group and the remaining 10 cones which were uncontaminated served as negative control. The cones from Group A were contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Group B were contaminated with Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis). The contaminated cones from both groups were subdivided into four groups with 10 cones in each group. Group I cones were disinfected with Aloevera Juice, Group II with Amla Juice and Group III with Pancha Tulsi. The fourth group consisted of GP cones without any disinfection which served as positive control. All the cones were then incubated in thioglycollate media for seven days. The thioglycollate media was subcultured and colony forming units were counted. The data were analyzed by one way ANOVA (analysis of variance) and Post-hoc Tukey test using SPSS 17.0 software.

Mean colony forming units were compared in all the groups and there was a statistically significant difference present among the groups (p<0.01). Pancha Tulsi was found to be most effective disinfectant followed by Amla Juice.

All the herbal solutions were found to be effective in the disinfection of GP points. However, Pancha Tulsi possesses superior antibacterial activity when compared with Aloevera Juice and Amla juice.