title: In vitro evaluation of five different herbal extracts as an antimicrobial endodontic irrigant using real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sodium hypochlorite is the most commonly used irrigant but it has disadvantage like high cytotoxicity. So there is a need to find an alternative to 5.25% Sodium hypochlorite against microorganism Enterococcus faecalis and Candida albicans. Literature has shown that these 5 extracts namely Terminalia chebula, Myristica frangrans, Aloe barbadensis, Curcuma longa and Azadaricta indica has good properties which can be used as a potential endodontic irrigant.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of various herbal extracts namely Curcuma longa (CL), Azadiracta indica (AI), Aloe barbadensis (AV), Myristica fragrans (MF) and Terminalia chebula (TC) as endodontic irrigant against Enterococcus faecalis and Candida albicans using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-four teeth were extracted and suspended with Enterococcus faecalis and Candida albicans. A preliminary study was first performed to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration of extracts. The irrigating groups were divided into five herbal groups and 2 control groups. After irrigating the teeth the remaining microbial load was determined using qPCR.
  
  
  METHODS
  Statistical analysis was performed using Oneway Anova/Kruskal-Wallis test with post-hoc Tukey's HSD and was statistically significant (P < 0.05).
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was shown that Neem was highly efficient to 5.25% NaOCl in reducing Enterococcus faecalis and Candida albicans within the root canals when compared with other extracts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Neem leaf extract has a significant antimicrobial efficacy against Enterococcus faecalis and Candida albicans compared to 5.25% sodium hypochlorite.
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Faculty of Dental Sciences, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Thilla S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Vinothkumar
authors.forename: Mohamed I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.forename: Lakshmi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Balaji
authors.forename: Deivanayagam
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kandaswamy
keywords: Candida albicans; Endodontic irrigant; Enterococcus faecalis; Herbal extracts; Microbiology; Polymerised chain