RESUMO
The purpose of this study is to compare the antibacterial effect of Listerine(R) on two microorganisms (P. gingivalis and E. faecalis) with various root canal irrigants (NaOCl, CHX, EDTA) and to identify possibility of using Listerine(R) as a root canal irrigant. Porphyromonas gingivalis ATCC 3327 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 were used in this experiment. For the test irrigants, 0.5%, 1%, 2.5%, 5.25% NaOCl, 0.1%, 0.2%, 1%, 2% CHX, 0.5M EDTA (18.6% EDTA) and Listerine(R) were prepared. Distiled water was used as control. Two methods-1) Comparison of turbidity in broth and 2) Agar diffusion test-were used to determine the extent of antibacterial effect of Listerine(R) and to compare it with that of NaOCl, CHX, and EDTA. All solutions tested were effective against two bacterial strains compared with control (p<0.001). Any concentration of NaOCl, CHX, and EDTA showed similarly high effectiveness against all bacterial strains. In all experiment, Listerine(R) showed significantly low antibacterial effect compared with the other root canal irrigants (p<0.05). In conclusion, the results reflect remarkably low antibacterial effect of Listerine(R) as compared with root canal irrigants in general so it is not suitable for the root canal irrigant.