Abstract

COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF HERBAL DENTIFRICES AGAINST STREPTOCOCCUS MUTANTS

*Rachana Pachori, Dipali Gore, Nikhilesh Kulkarni and Prithviraj Sadar

ABSTRACT

Tooth decay and periodontal diseases are one of the most common bacterial infections infecting the world population. In India, a very significant proportion of dental problems are due to microbial infections. A wide range of chemicals mainly antimicrobial agents have been added to toothpaste in order to produce a direct inhibitory effect on plague formation. Now- a- days, herbal tooth paste and tooth powder has gained more attention due to the side effects caused by chemicals generally used in the preparation of dentifrices. However, there is no alteration in the rate of periodontal diseases as well as tooth decay among the population also many herbal dentifrices claim to have antimicrobial properties and give assurance for dental protection. Hence, the present study was carried out to investigate the antibacterial efficacy of different locally available herbal toothpaste and toothpowders against Streptococcus mutans which is reported to be the most predominant oral pathogen associated with dental diseases. The findings suggest that the dentifrice containing Akarkara was found to possess good antibacterial activity against the test pathogen. It is also suggested that brushing the teeth for 15 minutes will allow enough contact time for toothpaste/powder to act on oral microbes and importantly pathogens for maximum result of good oral hygiene. Hence, herbal dentifrices could be exploited for teeth protection.

Keywords: Periodontal diseases, antibacterial activity, Streptococcus mutans, Akarkara, herbal dentifrices.