ABSTRACT
To evaluate the direct and transdentinal [indirect] agar diffusion antibacterial activity of different commercially available antibacterial dental gel formulations against Streptococcus mutans. The commercially available dental gel formulations were Corsodyl[R] [COG, 1% chlorhexidine], Cervitec[R] [CEG, 0.2% chlorhexidine + 0.2% sodium fluoride], Forever Bright[R] [FOB, aloe vera], Gengigel[R] [GEG, 0.2% hyaluronic acid], 35% phosphoric acid gel and distilled water [control]. Direct agar diffusion was performed by isolating three wells from brain-heart infusion agar plates using sterile glass pipettes attached to a vacuum pump and adding 0.1 ml of the gels to each well. Transdentinal [indirect] agar diffusion was performed by applying gel to 0.2- and 0.5-mm-thick human dentin discs previously etched with phosphoric acid and rinsed with distilled water. Zones formed around the wells and the dentin discs were measured and analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests with Bonferroni correction [p < 0.01]. Direct agar diffusion tests showed significant differences among all gel formulations [p < 0.01] except for COG and CEG [p > 0.01]. COG and CEG exhibited higher antibacterial effects compared to FOB and GEG [p < 0.01] in both direct and transdentinal [indirect] testing procedures. GEG did not show any antimicrobial activity in transdentinal [indirect] testing. Commercially available dental gels inhibited S. mutans, which may indicate their potential as cavity disinfectants