METHODS

This was a quasi-experimental study with pretest and posttest with controlled
group design. The researcher observed and identified the result of the
experiments before and after intervention.
Study Variable
The independent variables in this study were the groups using 50% honeydew
mouth rinse and the group using chlorhexidine gluconat 0,2% mouthrinse,
whereas the dependent variable was the quantity of bacterial colony in oral cavity
in both groups which was observed using culture method.
The applied scale for all variables was ratio scale. The ratio of colonization
was calculated to analyze the bacterias after mouth rinsing activity using
honeydew 50% and the other using chlorhexidine gluconat 0,2%.
Study Sampels
The population in this study was the students enrolled in Fakultas
Kedokteran Universitas Sumatera Utara. The inclusion criterias were students
aged 20-22 years old, generally healthy (without any dental or oral disease),
consented to participate in the study (Informed Consent), and didnt take any food
or drinks for an hour before the experiment. Those who had taken any oral drugs,
using braces and dentures, smoking, or had any disease affecting salivary gland
(diabetes mellitus, heart disease, diarrhea, fever) were excluded from this study.
Data Analysis
All the data gathered was presented in either tables or histograms, and was
analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Product and Service Solution) 16.0 program for
Windows. The data was also tested whether it had normal distribution using Test
of Normality on Saphiro-Wilk, and also tested for the variants on unpaired T test
with Levenes Test for Equality of Variances.

HONEYDEW 50% EFFECTIVITY

After the tests were analyzed, the data were proven neither homogen nor
normally distributed. It was decided to further analyze the data using non
parametric test Wilcoxon and Mann Whitney.
STUDY RESULT
The experiment was performed at Laboratorium Kesehatan Daerah Provinsi
Sumatera Utara on November 25th until November 28th 2014. The data was
collected from the calculation of bacterial colony in the students oral cavity. The
results shown from the bacterial cultures after mouth rinsing proved that both
honeydew 50% and chlorhexidine gluconat 0,2% had antibacterial effect. The
colonizations of bacteria were measured in CFU/mL.
DISCUSSION
The previous study showed that honeydew 50% had the positive effect in
decreasing the quantity of bacteria in oral cavity. This effect was attributed to the
presence of antibacterial compounds pinocembrin, terpene, benzyl alcohol, 3 5dimethoxy-4-hydroxybenzoic acid (asam siringat), 3 4 5-trimethoxybenzoic acid,
2-hydroxy-3-phenylpropanoic acid, 2-hydroxy benzoate acid, and 1 4dihydroxybenzene, and also polyphenol, flavonoid, and glycoside. This statement
was supported by a study result from Fatemeh in 2012 which tested the 0%, 5%,
10%, 20%, 50%, and 100% toward Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus in
vitro. It was shown in said study that the most effective bacterial killing effect
were achieved when the honeydew concentrations were 20% and above.
In another study by Hani et al in 2011, it was demonstrated that honeydew
concentration of 1.56%, 3.13%, 6.25%, 12.50%, and 25% were unable to
significantly inhibit the growth of Streptococcus mutans, whereas honeydew with
50% concentration may significantly inhibit the growth of Streptococcus mutans.
In this study, the honeydew with 50% concentration had the highest effect
in decreasing oral cavity bacterial quantity, which was 281 CFU/mL and
chlorhexidine gluconat 0.2% had the highest effect of 388 CFU/mL in decreasing
bacterial quantity in oral cavity. It was concluded that there was an effect of
2

HONEYDEW 50% EFFECTIVITY

decreasing bacterial colony quantity in 50% honeydew mouth rinse, but it was no
more significant than the effect resulted from rinsing with chlorhexidine gluconat
0.2% comparatively. Further study was necessary to investigate whether
honeydew as a mouth rinse material had more effect in decreasing bacterial
colony in oral cavity than the standard mouth rinse products like chlorhexidine
gluconat or others.
SUGGESTION
Based on the study result, it was stated that 50% honeydew was applicable as an
alternative mouth rinse solution. Further study about variations in honeydew
concentration was needed to work out the optimum concentration to decrease
bacterial concentration in oral cavity.

HONEYDEW 50% EFFECTIVITY