Comparison of Green Tea and Chlorhexidine Mouthwash Effects on Bacterial Colonies of Throat Cultures of Patients in ICU

Aims Throat of a healthy individual is an environment, which is suitable for the growth of various bacteria and viruses. In patients who are under artificial ventilation, leakage around the cuff of the trachea may be the cause of pneumonia. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of herbal teas of 5% green tea and 0.2% chlorhexidine mouthwash on oral hygiene of patients with tracheal intubation. Materials & Methods This clinical trial study was conducted on 46 intubated patients admitted to ICU of Shahid Mohammadi hospital of Bandar Abbas, Iran in 2015. These patients were selected by simple random sampling method. In the first 4 days, the first group was mouthwashed with chlorhexidine solution and the second 4 days with green tea solution. The second group was first washed with green tea solution and the other 4 days with chlorhexidine solution for the first 4 days. On the first day and the end of the fourth and eighth day, the pharynx was cultured using sterilized method. The data were analyzed by SPSS 22 software using Chi-square, chi-square for trend, or Fisher’s exact test. Findings Patients in both intervention groups demonstrated improved oral health with respect to decreased bacterial load in pharynx. However, no significant difference was observed between the two intervention groups with respect to improved oral bacterial load (p>0.05). Conclusion The use of green tea and chlorhexidine mouthwashes has a similar effect on bacterial colonies in the pharynx.