Objective:

To assess the antibacterial effect of 6% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) compared with 1% and 2% sodium hypochlorite, on toothbrushes inoculated with Streptococcus mutans ATCC® 25175™.

Materials and methods:

The study design was an experimental in vitro, cross-sectional prospective and comparative study. Sixty toothbrushes were used, which were divided into four groups of 15 brushes. After conducting a pilot study, the sample number was determined by the means comparison formula and these were selected by simple random sampling. These brushes were inoculated with strains of S. mutans ATCC® 25175™. The disinfectants included H2O2 at 6% and sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) at 1% and 2%. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to assess normality and the Mann-Whitney U test was applied for the hypothesis test.

Results:

The 6% H2O2 showed an average growth of 2 * 109 CFU/mL, which indicates that its effectiveness is greater compared to the 1% NaClO that showed a growth average of 4 * 109 CFU/mL which is less than the 2% NaClO that presented 0 CFU/mL of S. mutans (p = 0.004).

Conclusion:

Between 6% H2O2 and 1% and 2% NaClO, specifically antibacterial detection, 2% NaClO was concluded as being the most effective.

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