Abstract
The study was conducted to determine antimicrobial activity of stem extracts popularly used in folk medicine to treat dental plague and caries in human. The sampling was done during the months of May, June and July 2011. Two methods were employed for the determination of antimicrobial activities, an agar well diffusion method and determination of MIC. The aqueous, ethanolic, and hexane extracts were assayed for antimicrobial activities. The following bacterial strains were employed in the screening studies: Streptococcus mutans , Enterococcus faecalis , Prophyromonas gingivalis , Streptococcs sobrinus , Lactobacillus acidophilus , Lactobacillus plantum , Streptococcus sanguis , Actinomyces viscosus , Lactobacillus casei , Streptococcus salivarius , Staphylococcus aureus , Bacillus sublitis , Streptococcus viridians , Escherichia coli , Aspergillus niger , Penicillum notatum and Candida albicans . The results has revealed significant antibacterial effect of the ethanol extract. The study thus justifies ethanolic medicinal use of the plants as a dental plague remedy. Key words: aqueous, ethanolic, hexane extracts, antimicrobial organisms, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)
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