27 October 2020

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Effects of green tea on plaque and gum inflammation

Lara Figini

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Therapeutic mouth rinse contain active ingredients that help control bad breath, plaque and gingivitis. Some of the more common therapeutic ingredients contained in mouthwashes are essential oils (EO), cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) and chlorhexidine (CHX). However, alcohol-based mouth rinse should be used with caution since their use can cause pain and / or burning, altering the oral connective mucosa in the long run.
For prolonged and routine use, organic agents have been proposed as an alternative to traditional mouthwashes. Green tea catechins, for example, obtained from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, have proven to be useful in treating a variety of diseases according to Western medicine. The polyphenols in green tea are also bioactive ingredients with antioxidant properties as well they are useful in the treatment of some chronic diseases.

Materials and Methods
 In a systematic review, published in the Journal of Herbal of Medicine in March 2020, the authors systematically analyzed all the world literature looking for articles that investigated the effect of green tea on the oral health.
The research was performed using the following electronic databases: CINAHL, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, PubMed and Scopus until January 2017. The PRISMA criteria were applied and an attempt was made to answer the question, according to PICO: "In patients (population) with gingivitis, what is the effect of chronic use of a green tea-based mouth rinse containing catechins on plaque accumulation and gingival inflammation? ".

Results
Of the 187 titles identified by the search strategy, five were eligible for meta-analysis. These five studies included a predominantly Asian population. The plaque index (PI) and the gingival index (GI) were compared at the endpoint and throughout the time of the study (baseline-endpoint). The results of the meta-analysis indicated that green tea and chlorhexidine (CHX) produced lower PI plaque index values ​​than the control group (placebo) while they did not.
No significant difference was recorded between the CHX group and the green tea group, both at the endpoint and throughout the study time. Furthermore, there was little evidence of side effects after prolonged use of a green tea-based mouth rinse.

Conclusions
From the data emerging from this review, which must be confirmed in other similar reviews, it can be concluded that green tea-based mouthwash can be a valid alternative to chlorhexidine CHX-based one, especially for long-term use.

Clinical implications
 Due to the very heterogeneous data and the risk of bias, these data should be interpreted with caution. Further clinically controlled studies with a longer observation period are needed.

For additional information:  The Effect of Green Tea on plaque and gingival inflammation: A systematic review