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Updated: Feb 9, 2026

A Novel Method to Determine the Longitudinal Antibacterial Activity of Drug-Eluting Materials
Published on: March 3, 2023
Comparison of antibacterial activity of alexidine alone or as a final irrigant with sodium hypochlorite and
Thaís M da Silva1, Flávio Rf Alves2, Márcia Ts Lutterbach3
1Estácio de Sá University, Endodontics 580, Alfredo Baltazar da Silveira, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Aims:
To compare the antibacterial activity of alexidine (ALX) alone or as a final irrigant in combination with sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), with the most common canal irrigants, NaOCl and chlorhexidine (CHX).
Materials And Methods:
Ninety-four root fragments from extracted human teeth were infected with Enterococcus faecalis for 24 h and then distributed into 4 groups of 20 fragments each. The NaOCl, CHX and ALX groups were immersed in 1 ml of 2.5% NaOCl, 2% CHX, and 1% ALX for 10 min, respectively. The samples of the NaOCl+ALX group were immersed in 1 ml of 2.5% NaOCl for 10 min followed by 1% ALX for 10 min. Bacteriological samples were taken, cultured, and the colony-forming units were counted.
Results:
There was no significant differences among the experimental groups (P>0.05) except for the comparisons CHX versus ALX and NaOCl+ALX versus ALX (P=0.004). ALX alone was the worst irrigant. CHX and NaOCl+ALX eradicated all bacteria. All experimental groups were significantly more effective than the control group immersed in saline (P<0.05).
Conclusions:
The antibacterial effect of ALX alone was inferior to 2% CHX and 2.5% NaOCl. However, the combination of NaOCl with ALX as a final irrigant eradicated the biofilms.
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