Comparative Evaluation of 0.25% Lemongrass Oil Mouthwash and 0.2% Chlorhexidine Mouthwash in Fixed Orthodontic Patients Suffering from Gingivitis.

AIM: The aim of this study is to compare the antiplaque and antigingivitis efficacy of 0.25% lemongrass oil mouthwash and 0.2% chlorhexidine mouthwash in patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment, who are suffering from gingivitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 60 patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment with mild-to-moderate gingivitis were selected for the study. The patients were randomly divided into three groups of twenty each, that is, group I: 0.25% lemongrass oil mouthwash (n = 20); group II: 0.2% chlorhexidine mouthwash (n = 20); and group III: oral prophylaxis (n = 20). Baseline gingival index (GI) and plaque index (PI) were accessed followed by oral prophylaxis was done and the PI score was set to zero for all the patients. Patients were asked to swish their mouth with their respective mouthwashes and brushing (twice daily), that is, morning and before bedtime for 21 days. The PI and GI scores were recorded for all three groups on the 14th and the 21st days. The post hoc Bonferroni test was used for multiple comparisons of mean differences among variables after the application of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test for comparison within the groups. RESULTS: A lower PI and the GI were found in the lemongrass oil mouthwash group by the 14th and the 21st days, respectively, a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) compared to the chlorhexidine mouthwash group. CONCLUSION: The findings of the current study suggested that 0.25% lemongrass oil mouthwash has the potential to be used as a natural or herbal alternative to chlorhexidine mouthwash. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: It can be suggested that 0.25% lemongrass oil mouthwash may be a good herbal alternative to mouthwash containing 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate.

Salivary metabolite signatures of oral cancer and leukoplakia through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Background: Saliva contains a large array of metabolites, many of which can be informative for the detection of diseases. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is a system that has long been used for metabolite profiling owing to its sensitivity, specificity, reproducibility and synchronized analysis; it has relatively broad coverage of compound classes including sugars, sugar alcohols, glycosides and lipophilic compounds. Aim and Objectives: The present study was conducted to explore the use of GC-MS in assessing variation in salivary metabolites and to recognize the metabolites which can be used as disease diagnostic tools and metabolite markers for detection of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Materials and Methods: The present study included clinically and histopathologically confirmed oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and oral leukoplakia patients (OLK) and the control group. Patients were divided into three groups: OSCC (n = 30), OLK (n = 30) and healthy individuals as controls (n = 30). Patients were refrained from eating, drinking, smoking or oral hygiene procedures for at least 1.5 h before the collection. Saliva was collected between 9.00 and 10.00 am. Samples were stored at -80°C. Filtered samples were used for GC-MS. Results: Fifteen compounds differed significantly between control, OLK and OSCC. These metabolites were decanedioic acid, 2-methyloctacosane, eicosane, octane, 3,5-dimethyl, pentadecane, hentriacontane, 5, 5-diethylpentadecane, nonadecane, oxalic acid, 6-phenylundecanea, l-proline, 2-furancarboxamide, 2-isopropyl-5-methyl-1-heptanol, pentanoic acid, Docosane. Conclusion: The findings of the study suggest the application of salivary metabolomics as a promising tool in the identification of tumor-specific biomarkers in early diagnosis and prediction of OSCC and oral leukoplakia. In future, standardizing the protocol for salivary analysis and overcoming some of the limitations will be helpful to establish salivary metabolomics as a reliable, the highly sensitive and specific method for clinical use as an independent diagnostic aid.