Effectiveness of Rinsing Black Tea Compared to Green Tea in Decreasing Oral Bacterial Counts as an Alternative of Caries Prevention

Abstract

Abstract__ Herbal mouthwash is considered as an alternative regimen in maintaining oral hygiene. Tea contains compounds such as catechin and tannin which possess bactericidal and bacteriostatic effect which helps to prevent dental caries. This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness between rinsing with steeping black tea and green tea solution in decreasing the amount of oral bacteria. This is an experimental study with pre and post test controlled group design. The sample were 90 Junior High School students from Swasta Namira School which were then divided into three groups: oral rinsing with steeping black tea (treatment group), oral rinsing with steeping green tea (treatment group) and oral rinsing with aquadest (control group). Saliva collection was carried out before treatment (pre test/ baseline) and after treatment (post test). Treatment group was instructed to rinse 15 ml of steeping black and green tea solution whereas control group were instructed to rinse 15 ml aquadest for 30 seconds and get rid of it. The saliva samples before and after treatment were brought to the microbiology laboratorium for bacteria amount calculation using Total Plate Count (TPC) method. A T-test were used to determine the difference between rinsing with black tea and green tea and Kruskalwalis used to determine the difference between rinsing with steeping black tea, steeping green tea and aquadest towards the mean amount of bacteria before and after treatment. The results showed significant reduction in amount of bacteria in both treatment group where black tea group before treatment 1002.13x10 ±494.55x103 CFU/ml (p>0.05). Thus, it can be concluded that rinsing with steeping black tea solution has the same effectiveness in decreasing the total oral bacteria as compared to green tea solution.