Antimicrobial Efficacy of Fluoride Varnish as Root Canal Sealer against Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus Mutans: An In vitro Study

The aim of this in vitro study is to compare the antimicrobial efficacy  of fluoride Varnish (flurodose) with two endodontic sealers against Enterococcus faecalis and streptococcus mutans.

Two different endodontic sealers, namely, resin based (AH Plus), mineral trioxide aggregate (Endoseal-MTA) based and fluoride Varnish (Flurodose) were tested for their antimicrobial efficacy against E. faecalis and S.mutans  using agar diffusion method.Four wells were made by the removal of agar at equidistant points and filled with freshly mixed respective root canal sealers and were inoculated with E. faecalis and S.mutans. All the three plates were incubated for a period of 72 h at 37°C under aerobic conditions. The diameter of inhibition zones was measured at 24, 48, and 72 h time intervals. Data obtained were statistically analyzed using SPSS,Kruskal-Walis and Mann Whitney test.

All the tested sealers showed some bacterial growth inhibition of E. faecalis and S.mutans. Their efficacy in descending order of antibacterial activity against E.faecalis was as follows: AH Plus > Endo seal MTA> Fluoride varnish(fluorosode) and efficacy of antibacterial effect against S.mutans was including : AH plus> Fluorodose > Endo seal MTA. However, no significant differences were observed in terms of diameter of growth inhibition zone against both Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus mutans in pairwise comparison.  The efficacy of the root canal sealers decreased marginally with increase in their duration of  action.

Antimicrobial efficacy of resin based sealer (AH-plus) was highest followed by fluoride varnish(flurodose) and MTA based sealer(Endo seal MTA).