Effect of water Clove Extract on Streptococci and Mutans Streptococci, in Comparison to Chlorhexidine Gluconate (A Comparative In Vitro and In Vivo Study)

Abstract

Recently, in many parts of the world there is a rich tradition in the use of natural products for the treatments of many infectious diseases; many herbal remedies have been used because of their antibacterial, anti- inflammatory, cytostatic, antifungal and antiviral. Stimulated saliva was collected from four healthy looking females aged (20-21) from which mutans streptococci were isolated. Sensitivities of mutans streptococci according to Agar Well Technique showed that water clove extract was effective in the inhibition of these bacteria, mutans streptococci were more sensitive to chlorhexidine compared to water extract as indicated by the wider zones of inhibition on the Mueller Hinton Agar. An in vitro experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of these agents on acid formation by mutans streptococci, the result showed that chlorhexidine gluconate and water clove extract were effective in retardation of acid formation. The study involved one in vivo experiment to test the effect of water clove extract (10%) against salivary streptococci and mutans streptococci in comparison to 0.2% chlorhexidine and deionized water. Stimulated saliva was collected from 18 volunteers aged (24-27 years) they were divided into three groups each group rinsed once with either chlorhexidine, deionized water or clove water extract for one minute. The counts of bacteria were recorded at different time points (one minute prior to the rinse, 30 minutes after rinsing, one hour and two hours). No significant difference in the counts of streptococci was found between deionized water and water clove extract for all time points, rinsing with any one of these agents resulted in a slight decreased in the counts of these bacteria, chlorhexidine showed a sharp reduction in the counts of bacteria which was highly significant (P<0.001). For mutans streptococci, a highly significant differences were found between the three mouth rinses (P<0.001) in the counts of bacteria in the following time points (after thirty minute, after one hour). Within these times chlorhexidine was shown to be the most effective in reducing the counts of these bacteria followed by water clove extract. The result of the present study showed the effectiveness of clove especially against mutans streptococci, although it was less than chlorhexidine, but it can be use as effective anticaries agent. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different concentrations of water clove extract in comparison to chlorhexidine gluconate 0.2% and deionized water on growth, acidogenicity of mutans streptococci in vitro and viability counts of streptococci and mutans streptococci among a number of volunteers.