The inhibiting effect of Azadirachta indica against dental pathogens

The present study was carried out to evaluate the antimicrobial properties of neem extract against three bacterial strains causing dental caries using disc diffusion method. The pathogenic bacteria such as Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus salivarious and Fusobacterium nucleatum were isolated from dental caries. The organic extracts of neem were prepared using different solvents such as petroleum ether, chloroform, ethanol and distilled water and were screened for its antimicrobial activity. Among the four extracts of neem, petroleum ether and chloroform extract showed strong antimicrobial activity against S. mutans with inhibition zone of 18 mm at 500 μg concentrations. Chloroform extract of neem showed strong activity against Streptococcus salivarius with inhibition zone of 18 mm. The third strain Fusobacterium nucleatum was highly sensitive to both ethanol and water extract of neems with inhibition zone of 16 mm. The results demonstrate that the chloroform extracts of neem has a strong antimicrobial activity and suggest that it can be useful in the treatment of dental caries.

Author(s): N. C. J. Packia Lekshmi*, N. Sowmia, S.Viveka, J. Raja Brindha and S. Jeeva

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