Effect of Oral Application of Piper betle Linn on Caries

Background: Streptococcus mutans serotype c is the major trigger for the dental caries process due to their ability to synthesize the dental plaque. Piper betle Linn could be preventing of dental caries process because Piper betle Linn have a bacteriostatic effect towards S. mutans. Objectives: A pre-post test experiment block randomized control group study was conducted to evaluate the effect of oral mucous topical application of the Piper betle Linn on dental caries in experiment rats. Methods: Six male Wistar rats were inoculated with S. mutans INA99 and the fed was added with 20% of sucrose, and divided into 2 groups. One group was applied by using 4.5 mg/dL Piper betle Linn extract on the oral mucous one time for every three days until 35 days, and the other group served as a control group. The plaque pH and dental caries score,at the beginning(0 day) and the last day (35 day), were determined. Results: There were significantly different of plaque pH (< 0.001) and caries score (< 0.001) between two groups by using student's t-test. The plaque pH of experiment group (0.32 ± 0.14) was less decreased than control groups (0.63 ± 0.04) and less produced less dental caries (2.33 ± 1.53) than control groups (4.67 ± 1.15). Conclusion: Based on this study it was concluded that oral mucous topical application of Piper betle Linn could reduce dental caries process.