Antimicrobial and anti-adherence activity of various combinations of coffee-chicory solutions on Streptococcus mutans: An in-vitro study

CONTEXT: Several studies have demonstrated the activity of natural plants on the dental biofilm and caries development. But few studies on the antimicrobial activity of coffee-based solutions were found in the literature. Further there was no study available to check the antimicrobial effect of coffee solutions with different percentages of chicory in it. AIMS: To evaluate the antimicrobial activity of different combinations of coffee-chicory solutions and their anti-adherence effect on Streptococcus mutans to glass surface. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Test solutions were prepared. For antimicrobial activity testing, tubes containing test solution and culture medium were inoculated with a suspension of S. mutans followed by plating on Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) agar. S. mutans adherence to glass in presence of the different test solutions was also tested. The number of adhered bacteria (CFU/mL) was determined by plating method. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Statistical significance was measured using one way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test. P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Pure chicory had shown significantly less bacterial count compared to all other groups. Groups IV and V had shown significant reduction in bacterial counts over the period of 4 hrs. Regarding anti-adherence effect, group I-IV had shown significantly less adherence of bacteria to glass surface. CONCLUSIONS: Chicory exerted antibacterial effect against S. mutans while coffee reduced significantly the adherence of S. mutans to the glass surface.