Clinical and Biochemical Efficacies of Green and White Tea Extract Mouthwashes in the Management of Plaque-Induced Gingivitis

Objective: In this clinical study, chlorhexidine gluconate (CHX) was chosen as the positive control group, and the clinical and biochemical efficacy of mouthwashes with green tea, white tea and essential oil (EO) as the active ingredients were aimed to be examined comprehensively. Methods: A total of 112 participants with gingivitis were randomly assigned to four different groups and different mouthwashes were used for 4 weeks: CHX-MW group (as a positive control group), EO-MW group, GT-MW group and WT-MW group. The effects of the mouthwashes on plaque, inflammation and dental staining were evaluated by indexed scores at the beginning and 4th week. Markers related to gingival inflammation and oxidative stress were evaluated on samples from the gingival crevicular fluid. Results: In the 4th week, significant improvements in clinical parameters were found in all groups (p < 0.05) with the more pronounced improvement in the CHX-MW group (p < 0.05). However, only the CHX caused a significant discolouration of both teeth and tongue (p < 0.05). The levels of IL-1 beta and MMP-8 were found to be lower in all groups compared to the first measurements (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the antioxidant effect of EO mouthwash was found significantly low compared to the other three mouthwashes (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Green and white tea extracts provided clinical benefits in the short term (1 month) with no statistical difference from each other and mouthwash with EO as the active ingredient while they provided a lower clinical benefit compared to CHX. Products with tea as the active ingredient may be an alternative to EO mouthwash for short-term and long-term use.