ABSTRACT
Chlorhexidine (CHX) mouthrinses are known to have a beneficial effect in the management of periodontal disease. The present study was designed to investigate the antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and matrix metalloproteinases-8 (MMP-8) inhibition efficacy of eight commercially available CHX mouthrinses from the Dominican Republic. Methods: The study samples are categorized into two categories, eight commercially available CHX mouthrinses were case sample group, and positive and negative controls used in the study are categorized as control sample group. Antibacterial activity of the samples was evaluated on bacterial strains obtained from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Rockville, MD USA) which were Porphyromonas gingivalis, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Eikenella corrodens, and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. Results: The study samples 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8 showed significant higher antibacterial efficacy and sample 4 and 7 were less effective. Samples 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 showed higher antibacterial efficacy with no bacterial colonies formation in dilution assay method, whereas sample 8 showed smaller colonies of bacterial growth. The halo diameter found to be average in sample 8 with 13 mm, whereas sample 9 showed 12.5 + 3.48 mm, sample 1 was with a mean of 11.79 + 3.51 mm. The smaller halo diameter and minimal antibacterial activity were observed in samples 4 (mean of 3.5 + 5.95 mm) and 7 (3.5 + 7.70 mm). All eight samples showed statistically significant higher MMP-8 inhibition activity with P < 0.0001. Conclusion: Commercially available CHX digluconate mouthrinses showed the difference in plaque inhibition with 0.12 and 0.15% concentration.