Antibacterial Activity of Mouthwash Incorporated with Silica Nanoparticles against S. aureus, S. mutans, E. faecalis: An in-vitro Study

Silica based nanoparticles are used in various fields of medical sciences to diagnose, control disease, for genetic disorders, owing to their size, surface area, biocompatibility and low toxicity. In dentistry, silica nanoparticles have been used as dental filler, teeth whitening agent but limited evidence is there regarding antimicrobial activity against oral pathogens. Therefore, the current study was conducted to assess the anti-bacterial activity of mouthwash incorporated with silica nanoparticles against oral pathogens. Tetraethoxysilane, ammonium hydroxide, absolute ethanol were used and centrifuged to obtain the silica nanoparticle pellet. XRD analysis was done to confirm the characterization of the thus obtained silica nanoparticle. The mouthwash was prepared with the synthesized silica nanoparticle as the main constituent. Agar well diffusion method was used to assess the antimicrobial activity against S. mutans, S. aureus and E. faecalis. The XRD analysis confirmed the amorphous nature of the synthesized silica nanoparticles. The zone of inhibition was found to increase as the concentrations increased mainly for S. aureus and E. faecalis. The synthesized nanoparticles incorporated mouthwash showed good potential as antimicrobial agents against strains of gram positive bacteria. Further animal studies/in vivo research should be conducted to validate the above findings.