Introduction: Mangosteen, a fruit indigenous to tropical rainforest regions such as Southeast Asia, has been used as a key component in Chinese medicine and Ayurveda. It possesses antibacterial, anti-plaque, and anti-inflammatory properties. While chlorhexidine mouthwash is considered the gold standard, its multiple side effects necessitate the search for an herbal substitute.

Aim: To evaluate the anti-inflammatory and anti-plaque efficacy of 4% mangosteen mouthwash as an adjunct to SRP in patients with generalized moderate to severe gingivitis.

Methodology: The study recruited 30 participants between the ages of 20 and 70 years who had moderate to severe gingivitis. After undergoing scaling and root planning (SRP) therapy, they were randomly allocated to two groups: GROUP 1 (Test) received mangosteen mouthwash (n=15) while GROUP 2 (Control) received chlorhexidine mouthwash (n=15). Participants were instructed to rinse their mouth with 10 ml of the mouthwash twice daily for 14 days after brushing. The clinical outcomes assessed were the Plaque Index (Silness and Loe 1964) and Gingival index (Loe and Silness 1963) at baseline, day 14, and day 21. Statistical analysis was performed using the student 't'-test.

Result: Both the group that received mangosteen mouthwash and the group that received chlorhexidine mouthwash showed significant improvements in their gingival and plaque indices from baseline to day 14 and day 21.

Conclusion: The study found that the 4% mangosteen mouthwash was equally effective as the 0.2% chlorhexidine mouthwash in reducing plaque and gingivitis.