ABSTRACT
The in vitro activities of extracts of Nigerian chewing sticks against Bacteroides gingivalis and B. melaninogenicus are presented. The greatest inhibitory action was produced by Serindeia werneckei, whereas Fagara zanthoxyloides produced no appreciable inhibitory effect. A generally good correlation was found between the killing curves and MICs. Only extracts of Anogeissus leiocarpus showed acute toxicity in mice.
Subject(s)
Bacteroides/drug effects , Plant Extracts/pharmacology , Animals , Mice , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Plant Extracts/toxicity , Prevotella melaninogenica/drug effectsABSTRACT
Chewing sticks are widely used in Nigeria for dental and oral hygiene. In-vitro susceptibility tests were done with crude extracts from nine popular sticks on four species of Bacteroides. Serindeia warneckei chewing stick had the greatest and most consistent inhibitory effect on the four species; extracts from bark and pulp were bactericidal at concentrations of less than or equal to 1%. Extracts of other sticks, when inhibitory, were only so at higher concentrations--in the range 2-30%. All the black-pigmented oral anaerobes were very susceptible to eight of the nine chewing-stick extracts but non-pigmented anaerobes showed variable susceptibilities.
