THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE Volume 7, Number 5, 2001, pp. 523–527 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Potential Use of Tea Extract as a Complementary Mouthwash: Comparative Evaluation of Two Commercial Samples CHARLES O. ESIMONE, M.Pharm., 1 MICHAEL U. ADIKWU, Ph.D., 1 SUNDAY V. NWAFOR, M.Pharm., 2 and CHUKWUMEZIE O. OKOLO, B.Pharm. 2 ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate the potential of using tea extracts as complementary mouthwash and to test the comparative efficacy of two commercial samples. Design: A randomized controlled trial with 30 healthy human volunteers was carried out. The subjects were randomly assigned to 5 groups of 6 subjects per group. The ability of Ndu tea ® (from Cameroon) and Lipton ® tea (from Nigeria) to reduce colony forming units (CFU) in the liquid expectorated after 60 seconds of gargling from the mouth of the volunteers at 5 and 60 minutes were evaluated. These were compared to the values obtained from bank water and Minty Brett ® (thymol 0.047%), a standard antiseptic. Setting: University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria. Subjects: Thirty healthy human volunteers (18 males and 12 females, between 22–30 years of age) who met the eligibility requirement of being nonsmokers and not taking any other antimi- crobial agent were selected for the study. Result: Relative to the bank water, the results indicated that the hot water extract of both teas significantly (p , 0.05) reduced CFU per milliliter in the liquid expectorated after gargling at both 5 and 60 minutes. Minty Brett showed higher activity than both tea extracts; however, un- like Minty Brett both extracts still reduced the CFU per milliliter at time 60 minutes (an indica- tion of longer duration of activity). The combination of the tea extracts with sodium lauryl sul- fate (1.2% w/v), a surfactant and emulsifier, significantly increased the antimicrobial activity relative to each tea alone. Comparatively, the activity of Ndu tea was found to be slightly higher than that of Lipton tea but this was not significant (p , 0.05). Conclusion: Lipton and Ndu tea extracts potently reduced the CFU per milliliter. This activ- ity was potentiated by sodium lauryl sulfate. Although Minty Brett had more potent antimi- crobial activity, both tea extracts have longer duration of activity. The results indicate the po- tential usefulness of tea extracts as a complementary mouthwash. 523 INTRODUCTION T he tea plant (Camellia sinensis; Fam., Theacea) originated in the southwest part of China and has been cultivated for more than 3000 years. It is a perennial evergreen plant that is a semitree or shrub depending on the envi- ronment. Nearly one half of the world popula- tion consumes tea (Chen and Yu, 1994). The fresh leaves picked from the tea plant are 1 Pharmaceutical Microbiology Unit, Department of Pharmaceutics, 2 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.