Antimicrobial effect of crude extract of garlic towards oral Microbiome

Objective: To analyze the antibacterial activity of crude extract of Garlic (Allium Sativum) ex vivo as a mouth rinse and compare their efficacy with chlorhexidine gluconate 0.12%. Materials and Methods: A solution made with white clone of garlic was used as a mouth rinse and compared with conventional chlorhexidine mouth rinse. Three groups were assigned, each having 10 patients, where, Group A consisted of patients who used saline as mouth rinse, Group B consisted patients who used chlorhexidine gluconate 0.12% mouth rinse and Group C consisted patients who used crude extract of garlic mouthrinse. Pre and post saliva samples were collected. Pre and post mouth rinse saliva samples were collected from 30 patients. The samples were then cultured and the total bacterial count was calculated. The antibacterial effect of garlic was then compared with the antibacterial effect of Chlorhexidine mouth rinse. Results: The microbial colonies of all the three groups showed a confluent growth. In this study we found that there is significant reduction of Coagulase negative staphylococci by Garlic in saliva sample. Conclusion: There was a partial benefit with the crude extract of garlic. Chlorhexidine gluconate 0.12% showed a better disinfection property than the crude extract of garlic.