How efficacious are , , Guduchi extracts and chlorhexidine as intracanal disinfectants? A comparative study.

Introduction: In endodontics, despite careful instrumentation and antimicrobial irrigation, root canals still harbor cultivable microorganisms. Such cases require intra canal medicament that eliminates the microbial inhabitants from the canals. Recent trend advocates the use of herbal extracts due to easy availability, cost-effectiveness, low toxicity, and lack of microbial resistance. Hence, in the present study, , , and extracts were used as intracanal medicaments.

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the antibacterial efficacy of , , extracts, and chlorhexidine against , when used as intracanal medicaments.

Materials And Methods: One hundred and twenty-five extracted human teeth, inoculated with , were divided into four experimental groups and a control group ( = 25 in each group). The experimental groups were treated with chlorhexidine, , , and extracts and their antibacterial property was evaluated by estimating microbial counting (CFU/ml).

Results: The reduction in bacterial count for chlorhexidine, , , and groups was 60.76%, 51.98%, 37.73%, and 34.93%, respectively. Statistically significant difference in reduction of bacterial count was observed in all the groups, when compared with the control group.

Conclusion: Among all the herbal extracts, was found to be the most potent medicament followed by and . However, chlorhexidine was found to be at epic.