Title

Antibacterial and antiplaque efficacy of peppermint- or rosemary-enriched virgin coconut oil versus plain coconut oil, conventional mouthwash in Indian children: An in vivo study

Authors

Soujanya Mandal^1,*, Shilpy Dwivedi¹, Jayesh Tiwari¹, P.V.S Ankita², Kriti Mishra³ & Preena Dande¹

Affiliation

¹Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, New Horizon Dental College and Research Institute, Sakri, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India; ²Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics, Institute of Dental Science, SUM Hospital Road, Shampur, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India; ³Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Maitri College of Dentistry and Research Centre, Anjora, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India; *Corresponding Author

Email

Soujanya Mandal - E-mail: soujanyamandal007@gmail.com; Phone: +91 7679685223

Shilpy Dwivedi - E-mail: dr.shilpy13@gmail.com; Phone: +91 9752366300

Jayesh Tiwari - E-mail:  Email: drtiwarijayesh@gmail.com; Phone: +91 7000536809

P V S Ankita - E-mail: pvsankita125@gmail.com; Phone: +91 9755995479

Kriti Mishra - E-mail: mishrakriti172@gmail.com; Phone: +91 7004343175

Preena Dande - E-mail: dandepreena@gmail.com; Phone: +91 6266336208

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received August 1, 2026; Revised August 31, 2026; Accepted August 31, 2026, Published August 31, 2026

Abstract

Although oil pulling is widely used to improve oral health, evidence comparing virgin coconut oil enriched with essential oils against chlorhexidine in children remains limited. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate 80 children aged 10–13 years allocated into 4 groups receiving virgin coconut oil with rosemary, virgin coconut oil with peppermint, plain virgin coconut oil, or chlorhexidine. All groups showed significant reductions in Streptococcus mutans counts and plaque scores, while virgin coconut oil combined with rosemary or peppermint produced greater improvements than plain virgin coconut oil and performed comparably to chlorhexidine. Salivary acidity shifted toward a healthier range in all groups, indicating improvement of the oral environment alongside antibacterial activity. Thus, data shows that essential oil-enriched virgin coconut oil is an effective, natural and child-friendly alternative to chlorhexidine for plaque control and dental caries prevention.

Keywords

Oil pulling, virgin coconut oil (VCO), peppermint oil, rosemary oil, chlorhexidine, streptococcus mutans, dental plaque, oral pH

Citation

Mandal et al. Bioinformation 22(8): 5075-5080 (2026)

Edited by

Vini Mehta

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.