Table 1.
Groups of tissue conditioners used in the experiment (n = 3).
Fig 1.
Morphological evaluation of chitosan nanoparticles loaded with oregano oil by scanning electron microscopy at 50000 x and 10.0 kV.
The nanoparticles are in the range of 40–500 nm and show some agglomeration.
Fig 2.
Essential oils screening; Zone of inhibition of chitosan nanoparticles loaded with (a) Lemongrass oil (L) and (b) Oregano oil (O), where the appeared zone of inhibition was 18 mm and 19 mm, respectively.
Fig 3.
CFU counts of C. albicans at different dilutions; (i) (a). tissue conditioner discs without chitosan (control), (b). tissue conditioner discs with ECO 200, (c). tissue conditioner discs with ECO 250 and (ii) tissue conditioner discs with ECL 200, control TC disks were easily colonized by C.albicans till the last dilution whereas experimental TC disks hindered the growth of C.albicans rapidly. At the 10−3 dilution, there was negligible growth on the plate for ECO 200, ECO 250, and ECL 200.
Fig 4.
CFU counts of C. albicans on the surface of control tissue conditioner, blank chitosan nanoparticles, and chitosan nanoparticles loaded with essential oils (in both concentrations) based tissue conditioners.
The graph depicts that the experimental groups show significantly low CFU/mL compared to the control and the blank chitosan nanoparticles.
Table 2.
Growth of C. albicans on control (CTC) and experimental (BNP, ECO 200, ECO 250, ECL 200, ECL 250) TC discs.
Fig 5.
Concentration of EOs release from tissue conditioner discs (ECO 200, ECO 250, ECL 200, ECL 250) over 1 h, 2 h, 3 h, 4 h, 5 h, 6 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h.
Values were expressed as means and standard deviation. The maximum release was observed at 6 h, the release pattern was reduced. Highest EO release was observed by ECL 250, followed by ECL 200, ECO 250 and least was for ECO 200.
Fig 6.
Mean Shore A hardness of control and experimental TC discs over 5 days in (a) artificial saliva, (b) distilled water and (c) dry conditions.
It was found that the hardness values were high compared to the wet mode, whereby a non-significant difference was found between the distilled water and artificial saliva.