Antibacterial Activity of Glass Ionomer Cements on Cariogenic Bacteria – An in vitro study

Background: Antimicrobial activity of restorative materials had an important role in preventing caries recurrence. Aims and Objectives: To evaluate the in vitro antibacterial effect of Glass Ionomer Cements (GIC) against Streptococcus mutans, S oralis, S.salivarius and Streptococcus sp. Materials and Methods: Three commercially available glass ionomer cements, i.e., GIC1, GIC2 and GIC3 were evaluated. The products were manipulated in accordance with manufacturer’s guidelines and inserted into wells made-up in Petri plates containing Müeller Hinton Agar. The antibacterial activity was evaluated by using a caliper to measure the diameter of halos of growth inhibition of the strains assayed. The study was performed in triplicate and statistical analysis employed Kruskal-Wallis test (α=5%). Results: GIC1 showed halos of growth inhibition in millimeters of 16±2.0, 16±0.0, 11±1.0 and 13±2.0 on S. mutans, S. oralis, S. salivarius and Streptococcus sp respectively. On those same strains, GIC 2 presented halos of 22±0.0, 18±0.0, 19.6±2.4 and 24±0.0 millimeters and GIC 3 showed 17.3±1.3, 16±0.0, 13±1.0 and 22±0.0 millimeters halos of respectively. Statistical analysis indicated a significant difference for antibacterial activity between GIC 1 and GIC 2 (p<.05) on all strains. Conclusion: All three GIC’s under evaluation, promoted growth inhibition of the cariogenic bacteria assayed