Evaluation of antimicrobial activity of manually agitate (nano- chitosan and nano- propolis) against Enterococcus faecalis in comparison with sodium hypochlorite: an in-vitro study

Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate in an in-vitro model the antibacterial efficacy of manually agitated nano- chitosan and nano-propolis as root canal irrigation protocols in comparison to manually agitated sodium hypochlorite against Enterococcus Faecalis.
Material and Methods: The root canals of 50 single rooted human premolars were flattened to a standard length of 18mm cleaned and shaped to a size F5 Protaper, apices closed with composite, fixed into an Eppendorf vial with silicon impression material, autoclaved, and randomly assigned to the test groups (n=10) . Negative control was autoclaved and microbial analyzed. The other 40 specimens were contaminated with freshly prepared suspension of E. Faecalis and incubated for 4 weeks and equally divided into 4 groups positive control group (n=10) was not subjected to any further treatments, group A final irrigation with 5.25% NaOCl, group B final irrigation with nano-chitosan and group C final irrigation with nano- propolis ; all irrigation protocols were combined with manual agitation with well fitted gutta perch cone for 2 minutes under a laminar flow hood. Microbial samples were collected from all the root specimens and colony forming units were counted and transformed into log CFU. The collected data were statistically analyzed.
Results: There was no statistical significant difference in log CFU count between group A (treated with NaOCl) and group B, C (treated with CNP and PNP) while groups A, B, C showed statistically significant difference from positive control group with (p> 0.05).
Conclusion: With in the limitations of the present study it can be concluded that all irrigation protocols had efficient antibacterial effect against E. faecalis.
Manually agitated (CNP or PNP) can be considered as a more safe, efficient, and simple alternative instead of sodium hypochlorite against E. faecalis.