Tolerability of a green tea-based mouth rinse: A pilot study

Mouth rinse containing essential oil is one of the most popular, over the counter dental products which has been promoted to have anti-inflammatory, anti-plaque and anti-microbial properties. An essential oil alcohol-free mouth rinse with green tea has been introduced recently and promoted for management of periodontitis and gingivitis. As the role of chlorhexidine gluconate (CHX) mouth rinse in management of periodontal disease has been evaluated previously, the aim of this study is to compare the tolerability of none-alcohol containing green tea-based (NAGT) mouth rinse with CHX mouth rinse.

Forty healthy subjects were enrolled in September 2018 at King Abdulaziz University and allocated randomly to two study arms: NAGT mouth rinse and chlorhexidine gluconate mouth rinse. Study subjects were instructed to follow the manufacturer instructions and rinse twice daily for two weeks. Collected data included age, gender, smoking history in addition to subjective assessment using a validated questionnaire. Intraoral clinical examination was completed at baseline and 2-weeks time point.

The data of 36 patients were included in this study and analyzed. At 2 weeks, NAGT group reported higher burning sensation score compared to chlorhexidine group (mean: 4.33 and 0.6 respectively; P < 0.05). Reported mucosal dryness was more evident in NAGT group (mean: 1.9 Vs 1.7 for chlorhexidine group). Oral examination revealed significant mucosal desquamation (27.8%) in NAGT group. However, oral ulceration was reported equally in both groups (5.6%).

The current data demonstrates an overall less tolerability of a non-alcohol containing green tea-based mouth rinse compared to chlorhexidine gluconate. Further long term randomized clinical trials are recommended to confirm our findings.