title: Antimicrobial effect of herbal dentifrices: An in vitro study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was taken up to compare the antimicrobial effect of few herbal dentifrices against cariogenic organism such as Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus acidophilus.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was an in vitro model using the well method of microbial culture. Colgate total was used as the positive control and distilled water as the negative control. Dentifrices were prepared in 1:1 dilution using sterile distilled water. The standard strains were inoculated and incubated for 4 h. They were then lawn cultured. Wells were made using a standard template, and the dentifrices were placed in these wells Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney test were used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In case of S. mutans, the maximum antimicrobial effect among the six dentifrices was shown by Babool followed by Colgate Herbal. For L. acidophilus, the antimicrobial zone exhibited by all the six dentifrices were similar to the positive control.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Babool and Colgate Herbal have more inhibitory effect against S. mutans than the other dentifrices of the group. Dabur Red, Colgate Herbal, and Himalaya are efficient against L. acidophilus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Thai Moogambigai Dental College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sunitha
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Thai Moogambigai Dental College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ananthalakshmi
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Thai Moogambigai Dental College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: J Sathiya
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Jeeva
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Thai Moogambigai Dental College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Nadeem
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jeddy
authors.affiliation: Research Scholar, YRG Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Subhashini
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dhakshininamoorthy
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Thai Moogambigai Dental College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Muthu Meenakshi
keywords: Antimicrobial; Lactobacillus acidophllus; Streptococcus mutans; cariogenic organism; herbal dentifrices