Investigating the effects of herbal nanoparticle endodontic irrigants on <i>Candida albicans</i> and <i>Enterococcus faecalis</i>: An <i>in vitro</i> study

Abstract

Sodium hypochlorite irrigant (NaOCl) has many disadvantages although it possesses antibacterial activity and having the capability to disband the pulp tissue.. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of two nanoparticle herbal irrigants to that of Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) on Enterococcus faecalis and Candida albicans. Sixty single-rooted teeth were mechanically prepared. Thirty teeth were inoculated with Enterococcus faecalis, and the other 30 with Candida albicans. These teeth were divided into three groups: Group 1 contained 20 Enterococcus faecalis-inoculated teeth, which were further divided into 10 teeth irrigated with nanocurcumin and 10 teeth irrigated with nanoneem. Group 2 contained 20 Candida albicans-inoculated teeth which were irrigated like Group 1. Group 3 contained ten Enterococcus faecalis-inoculated teeth and ten Candida albicans-inoculated teeth which were irrigated with 2.5 % NaOCl. Microbial swabs were collected from the teeth before and after irrigation and cultured. Pre-operative and post-operative colony forming units (CFU) were compared in each sub-group using the Mann-Whitney test and the Kruskal-Wallis compared the difference between the groups. Significant post-operative reduction of the CFUs was shown for the incubated bacteria and fungi in both the nanoneem and nanocurcumin groups. However, the NaOCl showed a significantly greater reduction of the CFU than the nanoparticle herbal irrigants. The use of nanoneem and nanocurcumin in conjunction with sodium hypochlorite as root canal irrigants is advantageous due to their antibacterial and antifungal effect.