Inhibitory Effects of Antibacterial Agents in Fluoride Varnish Against Porphyromonas Gingivalis

Objectives: Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) is known to be the major causative bacteria of periodontal disease. Fluoride varnish can be a useful vehicle to release antibacterial agents slowly. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of antibacterial agents with and without experimental fluoride varnish (EFV) against P. gingivalis.
Methods: EFV with 5 wt % NaF was fabricated. The antibacterial agents used were 1 and 10 mM of chrysophanol (CHR), emodin (EMO), anthrarufin (ANT), bavachalcone (BCC), and isobavachromene (IBC). Agar diffusion test, minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC), and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) test were conducted on antibacterial agents with and without EFV using 1.5 × 10⁸ CFU/ml of P. gingivalis. For agar diffusion test, statistical analysis was done with Kruskal-Wallis test and Duncan’s multiple range test at α=0.05.
Results: In agar diffusion test, 1 mM CHR, EMO, ANT and 10 mM CHR showed higher antibacterial effects than other experimental groups without EFV (P<0.05), while both 1 mM and 10 mM CHR exhibited the highest effects among the experimental groups with EFV (P<0.05). BCC showed the lowest MIC and MBC both with and without EFV.
Conclusions: CHR with and without EFV showed the most effective antibacterial effect in agar diffusion test. BCC with and without EFV demonstrated the lowest concentration in MIC and MBC test. This study suggest that CHR and BCC can be used with fluoride varnish to inhibit P. gingivalis and be applied to prevent periodontal disease.