Evaluation of antimicrobial properties of Solanum xanthocarpum and Pistacia lentiscus extracts on Streptococcus mutans, Lactobacillus species and Actinomyces viscosus: An in vitro study

INTRODUCTION: The Ayurvedic system of medicine is popular in India and has gone through various change and remains as the mainstay of medical relief to a large population. Dental caries is the one of the major issue in the recent time, and there is no definite caries prevention method so far apart from Topical fluoride application, regular oral hygiene measures, pit and fissure sealants and diet measure. In spite of the above mentioned preventive measures the people are still prone to dental caries. In order to find a better solution the present study evaluates the antimicrobial properties widely available and cost effective herbal extracts of Solanum xanthocarpum and Pistacia lentiscus extract on cariogenic oral microbial flora. AIM: To Evaluate the Antimicrobial properties of Solanum xanthocarpum and Pistacia lentiscus extracts on cariogenic oral microbial flora. METHODOLOGY: The antimicrobial properties of Solanum xanthocarpum and Pistacia lentiscus extracts on cariogenic oral microbial flora (streptococcus mutans, lactobacillus, actinomyces viscosus) by different culture techniques to estimate the zone of inhibition (well diffusion method) and minimum inhibitory concentration (tube dilution method). RESULTS: The antimicrobial efficacy of Solanum xanthocarpum and Pistacia lentiscus on test bacteria were analysed using kurskal wallis test and values of 0.003 and 0.002 were obtained respectively, since the p values were less than 0.005, indicating that both herbal products possess statistically significant antimicrobial properties. CONCLUSION: The antimicrobial effects of the herbal extracts were almost on par with commercially available allopathic agents like chlorhexidine on oral cariogenic microbes. The efficacy should be further validated in a large scale studies and can be utilized for caries prevention in the form of mouth rinses, dentifrices and topical application in the future.