Cannabinoids infused mouthwash products are as effective as chlorhexidine on inhibition of total-culturable bacterial content in dental plaque samples

Abstract

Background Dental plaque is a global health problem affecting people of various age groups. Cannabinoids are gaining enormous research attention due to its beneficial properties for various applications. A preliminary observation on antimicrobial property of cannabinoids against dental plaque bacteria has been reported recently. As a follow-up research, here we report the in vitro evaluation of cannabinoids infused mouthwash products against total culturable (aerobic) bacterial content from dental plaque samples. Methods We tested two cannabinoid-infused mouthwash products containing cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabigerol (CBG) respectively (each mouthwash containing < 1% cannabinoid by weight) in vitro against total-culturable bacteria from dental plaque samples collected from 72 adults aged between 18 and 83 years. The participants were grouped on the basis of Dutch periodontal screening index (DPSI) score. To compare the efficacy of our products, we included two most commonly available products over the counter (Product A and Product B) to represent commercially available mouthwash products and the gold standard chlorhexidine digluconate 0.2% as a positive control. The product A represents mouthwash containing essential oils and alcohol, and Product B represents alcohol-free mouthwash that contains fluoride. All the mouthwash products were evaluated directly as such without any dilution through disc diffusion and agar well diffusion approaches and the diameter of zone of inhibition was measured. The limitation in methodology was that, the samples were open-label and the person who performed the manual measurements was unblind to test and control products used. Results On average, the cannabinoids infused mouthwash products showed the similar bactericidal efficacy as that of chlorhexidine 0.2%. Both chlorhexidine 0.2% and cannabinoids infused mouthwash products were effective against all the samples tested. Product A did not show any significant antimicrobial activity in any of the samples tested, except that a very marginal inhibition with a zone of 7-8 mm was observed only in 9 samples. Product B did not show any detectable inhibition zone at all in any of the samples tested. The ranges of zones of inhibition (and their average) were 8–25 mm (18.1 mm) for CBD-mouthwash, 8–25 mm (17.7 mm) for CBG-mouthwash; 12–25 mm (16.8 mm) for chlorhexidine 0.2%; 0–8 mm (0.1 mm) for Product A; and 0 mm for Product B. Although the difference in performance was slightly higher than chlorhexidine in both the cases, the difference was statistically significant for CBD-mouthwash and near significant for CBG-mouthwash. No significant difference was observed between CBD- and CBG-mouthwash. No significant difference in performance was found between DPSI score groups for any of the product tested. To our knowledge this is the first report on such efficient mouthwash product with natural key ingredients including cannabinoids and without any kind of fluoride or ...

Cannabinoids from inflorescences fractions of Trema orientalis (L.) Blume (Cannabaceae) against human pathogenic bacteria

“…Cannabinoids were developed as modulators of lipid affinity for the olivetol core of a poorly active antibacterial pharmacophore, supporting antibiotic development; major cannabinoids show potent activity against MDR bacteria ( Appendino et al, 2008 ). The S3 fraction showed potent antibacterial activity, with the clear zone on disk diffusion assay in the range of 8 to 14 mm that is similar to the ranges of inhibition zones of 8 to 25 mm which cannabinoids contained in mouthwash products ( Vasudevan & Stahl, 2020 ). For MIC values, the lowest concentration of extract in the range of 31.25 to 125 µg/mL, cannabinol (CBN) was found in all samples in our study.…”

<strong>CBD-Supplemented Polishing Powder Enhances Tooth Polishing by Inhibiting Dental Plaque Bacteria </strong>

“…It is essential therefore to upgrade the tooth polishing procedure to minimize the aerosol-mediated infections and it is feasible to achieve this by simple modification of polishing powders. Based on our previous reports (Stahl and Vasudevan 2020;Vasudevan and Stahl 2020) and this study results, CBD-supplemented powder has the potential to reduce the risk of aerosol-mediated infection by inhibiting the bacteria. Although the present study is limited to in vitro analysis, the results are significant and suggest a strong potential of cannabinoids in reducing the dental aerosol-mediated infections.…”

“…An improvisation of airpolishing technique is therefore required to reduce such risk of bacterial re-adhesion to the polished tooth surface. We recently reported the efficiency of cannabinoids in inhibiting dental plaque bacteria (Stahl and Vasudevan 2020;Vasudevan and Stahl 2020). In this study we tested the effect of cannabidiol (CBD) on tooth polishing by supplementing the crystalline CBD powder to the regular air-polisher powder and here we report the results of our finding based on in vitro microbiological analysis.…”

CBD-supplemented polishing powder enhances tooth polishing by inhibiting dental plaque bacteria

“…[ 19 ] It is essential, therefore, to upgrade the tooth polishing procedure to minimize aerosol-mediated infections, and it is feasible to achieve this by simple modification of polishing powders. Based on our previous reports[ 14 15 ] and this study results, CBD-supplemented powder has the potential to reduce the risk of aerosol-mediated infection by inhibiting the bacteria. Although the current study is limited to in vitro analysis, the results are significant and suggest a strong potential of cannabinoids in reducing the dental aerosol-mediated infections.…”

“…We recently reported the potential of cannabinoids in inhibiting the dental plaque associated with bacteria. [ 14 15 ] In this study, we tested the effect of cannabidiol (CBD) on tooth polishing by supplementing the crystalline CBD powder with the regular air-polisher powder; here, we report the results of our finding based on in vitro microbiological analysis.…”