Preparation and Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Mouthwash Prepared from Few Types of Plant Extracts against Some Types of Pathogenic Bacteria Isolated from Mouth

Abstract

Problems associated with drug resistance and the toxicity of some medicinal compounds currently in use are a major problem that requires searching for new compounds to overcome these problems. In the current study, two types of mouthwash were prepared, the first representing the mixture of aqueous extracts of Melissa officinalis L., Pimpinella anisum L. and Silybum marianum L. plants and the second represented the mixture of their methanolic extracts. The inhibitory activity of the two prepared types of mouthwash was tested in comparison with the effectiveness of commercial products available in the Iraqi markets, namely oral B and alpha zac against some types of pathogenic bacteria isolated from the mouth of patients attending to some specialized dental centers in the city of Baghdad, where three of them were negative for gram stain represented by (Enterobacter cloacae ssp dissolvens, Kluyvera intermedia and Serratia marcescen). The four gram-positive represented by Enterococcus faecium, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus parasanguinis and Staphylococcus aureus, using the diffusion agar method and tube method to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). The methanolic and aqueous extracts showed inhibitory activity against most types of bacteria included in this study, as the inhibitory values ranged between 10 to 24 mm. The aqueous’s lowest inhibitory dilution (MIC) was 28% at a concentration of 6.25 μg/mL, and the lowest bactericidal dilution (MBC) was 14% at a concentration of 12.5 μg/mL. These results are close to the inhibitory properties of the methanolic extract, as no significant differences were observed in both MIC and MBC values between both lotions. The prepared aqueous and methanolic extracts lotion showed distinctive stability in terms of pH, density, color, smell and homogeneity over a period of three months from the date of preparation under different storage conditions.