Author(s):

IC Orabueze, AA Amudalat and AA Usman

Abstract: Dental – oral associated diseases are increasable affecting a considerable portion of the population and is considered one of the major causes of tooth loss, discomfort, mouth odour and loss of confidence. This study focused on the ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used in oral hygiene and evaluation of the antimicrobial activities of methanolic extracts of two selected plants from the survey for their efficacy against dental microorganisms. The ethnobotanical survey was carried out in three herbal markets in Lagos State, Nigeria by oral interviewing and information obtained from an old family manually complied herbal medication book. Methanolic extracts of Olax subscorpioidea (stem bark) and Bridelia ferruginea (stem bark) were assayed for their antimicrobial activities against clinical oral isolates (Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans, Streptococcus spp, Staphylococcus aureus, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). In vitro microbial technique (agar well diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay) were employed for the assay. Chlorhexidine gluconate was used as the reference drug for comparison with the extract results. And the preliminary phytochemical screening of the constituents of the plants were done. The ethnobotanical survey produced plants (39) of diverse family. O. subscorpioidea showed considerable antifungal activity with zone of inhibition ranging from 20.00–26.50 mm against Aspergillus fumigatus but no such encouraging inhibitory activity was observed in the other assayed organisms. B. ferruginea showed antibacterial sensitivity against Streptococcus spp, Staphylococcus aureus, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with zone of inhibitions ranging from 25.00 – 34.00; 16.00 – 22.50; 19.50 – 27.00 and 15.25 – 22.25 mm respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration of O. subscorpioidea against Aspergillus fumigatus was 51.2 mg ml^-1 while that of B. ferruginea against Streptococcus spp was 0.1mg ml^-1 and for Staphylococcus aureus, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were 25.6 mg ml^-1. A phytochemical analysis reveals the presence of several secondary metabolites. The barks of both plants exhibited antimicrobial properties against periodontal diseases causing organisms assayed, thus up-holding their folkloric use in oral disorder management.

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