Chlorhexidine on long term use is known to cause local side effects hence demanding the need for some alternative chemical plaque control agents. The present study was conducted to compare the anti-plaque and anti-gingivitis efficacy of 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate mouthwash and the herbal mouthwash with normal saline. The present study is an examiner-blinded, parallel designed clinical trial and included a total of 120 dental students. Gingival index( GI) and plaque index (PI) were recorded at baseline and brought to zero by scaling and polishing. The subjects were then assigned randomly to 1 of the 3 groups of 40 subjects each after fulfilling the necessary inclusion and exclusion criteria. All the groups were instructed not to perform regular oral hygiene measures mainly tooth brushing and dental flossing, except for swishing with respective mouthwash as per therapeutic dose. Group A subjects were instructed to rinse with 10 ml of 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate mouthwash twice daily for 1 minute a standard regimen for chlorhexidine mouthwash. Similarly, Group B subjects were requested to rinse with 5 ml of herbal mouthwash diluted with 5 ml of water twice daily for 1 minute and Group C subjects were asked to rinse with 5 ml of normal saline twice-a-day for 1 minute. The same investigators re-evaluated GI and PI scores on the 5 th day which were then compared statistically. According to the results of our study, the anti-plaque and anti-gingivitis effects of herbal mouth rinse was similar to that of 0.2% chlorhexidine mouth rinse and significantly better than rinsing with normal saline.
