Abstract

IN VITRO COMPARISON OF THE ANTIBACTERIAL EFFECT BETWEEN MISWAK AND SOME TOOTHPASTES ON ORAL BIOFILM FORMING BACTERIA.

Kawakib I. Al-Zubaidy*

Abstract

dental biofilms are the most prevalent cause of the oral diseases that colonize in the gingival and sub-gingival regions of the mouth. This study aimed to isolate and characterize the oral biofilm forming bacteria and also to estimate the antibacterial effect of Miswak and some toothpastes which mainly contain sodium fluoride. Fifty Samples were collected from the mouth by swabbing across the gingival and the buccal cavity. Thirty three of them were isolated and characterized by the analytic profile index and some important routine laboratory tests. Eighteen isolates were diagnosed as Staphylococcus aureus and fifteen isolates were diagnosed as Streptococcus oralis. Biofilm formation was examined by tube staining assay. Some isolates formed biofilm after 24 hours incubaion. Others has formed after 48 hours. Interesting thing that biofilm formation increased after 72 hours. Obviously, it was observed that cells adherence reach the highest peak by escalating the time of incubation. Miswak is a natural toothbrush which has been documented as potent antibacterial effect. Also toothpaste is used to promote oral hygiene. In this study, it has been compared the antibacterial effect on Miswak and some toothpastes by using agar - wells diffusion method. The zone diameters of inhibition for Miswak were (4mm) on the Staphylococcus aureus, and (3.5mm) on the Streptococcus oralis as the average of zone diameters of inhibition for some toothpastes were (3mm) on the Staphylococcus aureus, (2.5mm) on the Streptococcus oralis. The obtained results for this study were observed that Miswak extract has a very significant effect on the isolated biofilm forming bacteria in comparison to some toothpastes and this what was indicated by our prophet Muhamed (PBUH) in his honorable talks about Miswak.

Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus, Miswak, Streptococcus oralis.