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Comparative Evaluation of Chlorhexidine, Citric Acid, and Sodium Chloride Solutions for Toothbrush Decontamination: A
Azra Kaukab1, Khushi Shukla1, Aishwarya Vishwanath1
1Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
Objective:
To compare the effectiveness of three commonly used solutions for toothbrush decontamination, namely, 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHX), 20% citric acid (CA), and 3.5% sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions.
Materials And Methods:
Fifty-one study participants were given toothbrushes and instructed to brush twice daily. The participants were randomly divided into three experimental groups based on the solution used for decontamination-0.12% CHX (Group A), 20% CA (Group B), and 3.5% NaCl (Group C). After 3 months, the toothbrush heads were collected from the participants and the pretest colony-forming units (CFU) counts were determined. They were then immersed in the respective solutions for 7 h, after which the CFU counts were again determined. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the differences in the pretest and posttest CFU counts. A Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the mean percentage reduction in CFU counts for samples in the three groups, followed by Dunn-Bonferroni's post hoc test for intergroup comparisons.
Results:
There was a statistically significant reduction in CFUs in all three groups tested. CA solution (20% concentration) was comparable to the gold standard CHX when it came to CFU reduction (p ≤ 0.05). Both solutions showed a 99.9% reduction in the colony-forming unit count, whereas 3.5% NaCl solution only showed a 12.2% reduction.
Conclusion:
0.12% CHX and 20% CA solution showed the maximum percentage reduction in CFUs. CA demonstrated potential as an effective toothbrush decontaminant due to its lower cost and safer profile.
Trial Registration:
Clinical trial registry, India: CTRI/2020/11/028920.