Antimicrobial Effect of Eucalyptus Oil as a Root Canal Filling Material for Primary Teeth in Comparison with other Filling Materials against C. albicans and Streptococcus spp

Microbial invasion is the most common cause of pulpal necrosis. Therefore, irrigation and obturation of primary teeth with antimicrobial materials is quite necessary to increase the success of endodontic treatment. To compare the antimicrobial effect of mixture of zinc oxide eucalyptus oil with zinc oxide eugenol, and Metapex. An in vitro antimicrobial activity was estimated using agar diffusion method. C. albicans and Streptococcus spp. were isolated and identified from necrotic pulp of primary root, then they were spread on Muller Hinton agar. Holes of 6 mm were punched into the agar plates and filled with the selected materials. The diameter of inhibition zones was measured after overnight incubation at 37[degrees]C. The statistical analysis was done using One Way ANOVA test with Tukey or Dunnett's T3 as a post hoc tests at level of significant 0.05. The inhibition zones of zinc oxide eucalyptus mixture and zinc oxide eugenol against C. albicans and Streptococci were almost near to each other with statistically nonsignificant differences. While Metapex showed lowest inhibition zones with highly significant difference when compared to zinc oxide eucalyptus mixture and zinc oxide eugenol against both microorganisms. Zinc oxide eucalyptus mixture showed almost similar antimicrobial effect to zinc oxide eugenol, while Metapex revealed lowest antimicrobial effect. Keywords: antimicrobial, obturations, eucalyptus oil, primary teeth.