Effects of Three Mastic Gums on the Number of Mutans Streptococci, Lactobacilli and PH of the Saliva.

Abstract

In the recent years, herbal oral hygiene products have gained increasing attention. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of three types of mastic gums on the level of Mutans streptococci, Lactobacilli and pH of the saliva.Forty-two students in the age range of 20-30 years were divided into three parallel groups; each of them separately used pure mastic gum, xylitol mastic gum and probiotic mastic gum for three weeks. Number of microorganisms and pH of the saliva were assessed before and after the intervention. The data were analyzed using Wilcoxon Signed Rank, paired-sample-t, Kruskal-Wallis and Tukey's post-hoc tests and Oneway ANOVA.Level of Mutans streptococci showed a significant reduction compared to its baseline value in all three groups (P

Keywords

• Lactobacilli
• Mastic gum
• Mutans streptococci
• Saliva