Anti-plaque efficacy of Hi-Ora mouthrinse and 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate in patients with chronic gingivitis: A case–control study

BACKGROUND: Chlorhexidine (CHX) gluconate has remained the gold standard chemical plaque control agent till date, though, being associated with several disadvantages including its tendency to stain teeth and leading to irritation of soft tissues. To overcome these inherent disadvantages, there has been a surge of studies in the recent past to evaluate the efficacy of herbal mouthrinses as against CHX. OBJECTIVE: The present study was planned to compare the anti-plaque efficacy of Hi-Ora mouthrinse as against 0.12% CHX in patients with chronic gingivitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was designed as a case–control study including 90 patients with chronic gingivitis who were divided into 3 groups including Group A in which 0.12% CHX was prescribed, Group B in which patients were prescribed Hi-Ora and Group C in which normal saline was prescribed after oral prophylaxis while the mean Gingival Index (GI) and Plaque Index (PI) scores were recorded on the 5(th) postprocedural day. RESULTS: The mean GI score in CHX group was found to be 0.70 ± 0.25 as against 0.66 ± 0.16 in Hi-Ora and 1.59 ± 0.55 in normal saline groups. Similarly, the mean PI score in CHX group was found to be 0.80 ± 0.31 as against 0.77 ± 0.30 in Hi-Ora and 1.86 ± 0.61 in normal saline groups. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study suggested Hi-Ora to be more effective than 0.12% CHX in reducing the mean GI and PI scores among all the 3 groups.