Antimicrobial activity of selected medicinal plants against oral microflora

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance and side effects of antibiotics are major problem in the medicinal field, in the present study four selected medicinal plants were used to find out the antibacterial activity against oral pathogen. Plant extracts of Azadirachta indica, Synzygium aromaticum, Piper nigrum and Mangifera indica were used for the study. By disc diffusion method these medicinal plant extracts produced clear and circular inhibition zones on the swab culture of oral microflora after 34 hrs of incubation. The inhibition zone for each medicinal plant varied in diameter. The inhibition zone indicates the destruction of microbial population in the culture by the antimicrobial activity of the medicinal plants. Three different treatments were conducted for each medicinal plant and each treatment shows a slight variation in diameter. Among four medicinal plants Azadirachta indica showed maximum zone of inhibition and Mangifera indica showed least inhibition zone diameter. One way ANOVA showed that there was no significant difference among the four medicinal plants in their antimicrobial effect on oral bacteria, there was a slight variation among them. As per the result from the present study, all of the selected medicinal plants showed their excellent efficiency against oral microflora. Since the tested extracts of selected plants were effective against pathogenic micro-organisms present in the oral cavity. The anti-microbial efficacy can be enhanced if the phyto constituents of these plant extracts are purified using different solvents like ethanol, methanol, acetone etc., antibacterial activity of these medicinal herbs, if translated into clinical practice would lead to the development of indigenous, chemical free, cost effective and holistic oral hygiene aids, which can be incorporated into various oral hygiene formulations like dentrifices, mouth rinses, gum paints etc.