Background The practice of oil pulling has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine and has garnered increased interest as a viable alternative to chemical mouthwash products that maintain oral health in recent years. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of natural oils as a replacement for chlorhexidine (CHX) mouthwash in treating plaque-induced gingivitis among young adults. Methods A total of 90 subjects aged 18–40 years old with plaque-induced gingivitis were recruited for this study and randomly allocated into three treatment groups (30 participants per group). The study design was a randomized controlled trial with clinical assessments of participants’ plaque-control record (PCR), gingival bleeding index (GBI), and STAIN scores collected at baseline, 7, 14, and 21 days. Inter-group and intra-group differences were evaluated using ANOVA with post-hoc Bonferroni corrections and Chi-square tests at the p < 0.05 level. Results All three treatment groups showed a statistically significant decrease in intra-group PCR and GBI scores (p < 0.001). On day 21, the PCR scores decreased by 32.9% in the CHX group, 27.6% in the myrrh group, and 26.4% in the olive oil group. The highest reduction in gingival bleeding was observed in the CHX group (36.3%), the myrrh group (30.1%), and the olive oil group (20.2%). There was a statistically significant difference between the CHX and the olive oil groups (p = 0.006), with the CHX group demonstrating greater improvement than either of the natural oil groups. Conclusion In comparison to the natural oil pulling agents, CHX was the most effective at decreasing plaque-induced gingivitis. Natural oils provide clinically meaningful benefits, indicating they can play an important role alongside traditional oral hygiene regimens. Additional long-term research is required to assess the effectiveness of natural oils as substitutes for traditional chemotherapeutic agents.
AlQahtani et al. (Sun,) studied this question.
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