Antibacterial Efficacy of Different Concentrations of Sodium Hypochlorite Gel and Solution on Biofilm.

INTRODUCTION

This study compared the antibacterial efficacy of 2.5% sodium hypochlorite gel and 2.5% and 5.25% sodium hypochlorite solutions on () biofilm.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

The root canals of 60 extracted human single-rooted teeth were contaminated with and incubated for 6 weeks. The samples were randomly assigned to three experimental groups and one control group (=15). The study protocol in the experimental groups consisted of injection of 5 mL of each irrigant into the root canals. Samples were collected from the root canal walls and 1:10 serial dilutions were prepared and added to Muller Hinton Agar (MHA) plates and incubated at 37C for 48 h. A classic colony counting technique was used for determining vital bacterial counts in MHA plates. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used for statistical analysis of the data. The level of significance was set at 0.05.

RESULTS

The antibacterial effect of the irrigants in all three experimental groups was significantly greater than the control group (<0.05), with no significant difference between 2.5% and 5.25% NaOCl solutions (>0.05). The effect of 2.5% and 5.25% NaOCl solutions were significantly superior to 2.5% NaOCl gel (<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Under the limitations of this study, 2.5% NaOCl gel was effective in reducing counts; however this effect was less than that of NaOCl solutions.