Methods: An inhibitory activity was determined by using broth dilution technique and time kill method. S.mutans and A. actinomycetemcomitans were grown in Tryptic Soy Broth and Brain Heart Infusion, respectively. Both organisms were treated with different dilution of herbal toothpaste (4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128) at 37 oC, 5% CO2 for 5 and 60 minutes. Their survival were evaluated in comparison to the toothpaste base using drop plate method.
Results: At 5 minutes of incubation, the Maximum Inhibitory Dilution (MID) of herbal toothpaste and toothpaste base against S. mutans were 8 and 4, respectively. MID of herbal toothpaste and toothpaste base against A. actinomycetemcomitans were 16 and 8, respectively. For 30 minutes of incubation, MID of herbal toothpaste and toothpaste base against S. mutans were 16 and 8, respectively. MID of herbal toothpaste and toothpaste base against A. actinomycetemcomitans were 32 and 16, respectively.
Conclusions: Herbal toothpaste contained PG has the better antimicrobial activity against both S. mutans and A. actinomycetemcomitans than toothpaste base at 5 and 60 minutes of incubation.