Abstract:
Dental caries is a multifactorial human disease that has widely affected many populations all over the
world. Streptococcus mutans plays a major role in dental caries development. Few of mouthwashes,
however, have undergone rigorous testing and lack the quality of an ideal agent as evidenced by the
limited amount of information on their safety and efficacy in the literature. Thus presently the
antibacterial activity of herbal agents is being extensively studied. The present study aims to compare the
antimicrobial effects of 70% aqueous ethanol extract obtained from traditional Egyptian plants with the
most common Egyptian mouthwashes brands against S.mutans. S.mutans isolated on Mitis Salivarius
Agar (MSA) and confirmed by API 20 Strep C. 70% aqueous ethanol extracts of Achillea fragrantissima
Sch.Bip (No 5), Euphorbia hirta L. (No 2), Nymphaea alba L. (No 1), Thymus vulgaris L.(No 4 ) and
Plectranthus amboinicus L (No 3) were prepared.The susceptibility pattern of 25 S. mutans bacterial
isolates obtained from 82 dental plaque samples of patients having dental caries to the selected
mouthwashes and plant extracts was determined using the agar well diffusion method. The zones of
inhibition produced by the mouthwashes and herbal extracts against the bacterial isolates were measured
compared with chlorhexidine positive control. Chlorhexidine formulations listermix and jase were the
most effective mouthwash preparations, while chlorhexidine free formulation betadine was the least
effective preparation against S.mutans. Extracts No 1 and 2 exhibited the highest antimicrobial effect,
while extract No 4 showed the least one. Chlorhexidine formulations Jase and listermix are considered to
be the most effective mouthwash anticaris. N. alba, E. hirta plant extracts have the greatest antibacterial
activity against S.mutans. If similar results are confirmed in clinical trials, these plant extracts can be
used alone or in combination to produce new, useful and economic antimicrobial mouthwashes
alternative to commonly known mouthwashes with less side effects.
