Effect of Herbal and Fluoride Mouth Rinses on and Dental Caries among 12-15-Year-Old School Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

To assess and compare the effect of herbal and fluoride mouth rinses on count and glucan synthesis by and dental caries, a parallel group placebo controlled randomized trial was conducted among 240 schoolchildren (12-15 years old). Participants were randomly divided and allocated into Group I (0.2% fluoride group), Group II (herbal group), and Group III (placebo group). All received 10 ml of respective mouth rinses every fortnight for a period of one year. Intergroup and intragroup comparison were done for count and glucan synthesis by and dental caries. count showed a statistically significant difference between Group I and Group III ( = 0.035) and also between Group II and Group III ( = 0.039). Glucan concentration levels showed a statistically significant difference ( = 0.024) between Group II and Group III at 12th month. Mean DMF scores showed no statistical difference between the three groups ( = 0.139). No difference in the level of significance was seen in the intention-to-treat and per-protocol analysis. The present study showed that both herbal and fluoride mouth rinses, when used fortnightly, were equally effective and could be recommended for use in school-based health education program to control dental caries. Trial registration number is CTRI/2015/08/006070.