Efficacy and safety evaluation of alcohol-containing and alcohol-free mouth rinses: A clinicocytological study

CONTEXT: Whether the alcohol-based mouth rinses are as good as nonalcoholic mouth rinses as far as oral mucosal safety is concerned? AIMS: The aim of the study was to investigate the oral mucosal safety of widely used alcohol- and nonalcohol-based mouth rinses at their recommended doses. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: The clinical and cytological investigations were carried out by enrolling 120 systemically healthy volunteers fulfilling the inclusion criteria. The volunteers were subjected to a repeated mouth rinse for 60 days to either alcohol-based or alcohol-free mouth rinses at their recommended dosages. A comparative analysis for any clinical adverse response on the oral mucosa and efficacy, i.e., reduction of plaque and gingival index was done at the terminal of the exposure. The studies were also carried out to investigate the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity potential of alcohol-based and alcohol-free mouth rinses in the exposed mucosal cells. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The data have been presented in comparative account between alcohol-based and alcohol-free mouth rinses in the volunteers at day 0 and day 60. The cytotoxicity and genotoxicity potential of prescribed doses of alcohol- and alcohol-free mouth rinses have also been evaluated using tetrazolium bromide salt 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide, neutral red uptake, and trypan blue dye, micronucleus and chromosomal aberrations. RESULTS: The study findings reveal no statistically as well as biologically significant adverse responses of both alcohol-based and alcohol-free mouth rinses at clinical and cytological level. CONCLUSIONS: Under cytological observation, repeated dose exposure up to 60 days of the mouth rinses (alcohol-based and alcohol-free) used in the study was found to be effective and safe at their prescribed dosages.