Antimicrobial Efficacy of Chlorhexidine-Loaded Silver Nanoparticles on Enterococcus Faecalis Biofilm (An In-Vitro Study)

Abstract

Endodontic infections are mostly biofilm-based infections caused by microbial consortium, in which E faecalis plays a pivotal role both in primary and secondary infections, whether the biofilm is intraradicular, extraradicular, periapical, or biomaterial-centered. Chemo-mechanical canal preparation plays a central role in biofilm eradication. However, conventional antimicrobial strategies are insufficient to completely eradicate the microbial biofilms due to increased antimicrobial resistance; especially among the biofilm. Thus, the need for innovative methods to combat the microbial threat is increasing. Among the recent antimicrobials, research about nano-sized materials is rapidly expanding. Among other advantages, NP-based irrigants have smaller particle size and thus high surface area-to-mass ratio, which potentiates its antibacterial and anti-biofilm properties. CHX and AgNPs showed promising antibiofilm properties against E faecalis. Therefore, it was thought that it would be of value to evaluate the effect of the combination between CHX and AgNPs on E faecalis biofilm compared to the effect of CHX alone and AgNPs alone.