Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Nov 7;24(22):4043.
doi: 10.3390/molecules24224043.

Synergistic/Antagonistic Potential of Natural Preparations Based on Essential Oils Against Streptococcus mutans from the Oral Cavity

Vlad Tiberiu Alexa  1 , Atena Galuscan  1 , Iuliana Popescu  2 , Emil Tirziu  3 , Diana Obistioiu  3 , Alin Daniel Floare  1 , Antonis Perdiou  1 , Daniela Jumanca  1
Affiliations

Synergistic/Antagonistic Potential of Natural Preparations Based on Essential Oils Against Streptococcus mutans from the Oral Cavity

Vlad Tiberiu Alexa et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

The present paper addresses a thematic of interest in preventive dental medicine, namely the possibility of using essential oils (EOs) for the inhibition of the development of Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) in the oral cavity, as a viable alternative to chemical products with protective role in oral health. For this purpose, four EOs (cinnamon, clove, bergamote, and orange) were chemically characterized by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and in vitro tested against S. mutans (ATCC 25175). The results obtained revealed the antibacterial effect on S. mutans exercised by the essential oils of clove (CLEO), bergamote (BEO), and orange (OEO), which were included in the production of natural emulsion-type preparations with application in dental medicine. In order to highlight the synersistic/antagonistic effects generated by the chemical constituent of essential oils, binary and tertiary emulsions were prepared and used in saliva-enhanced medium against S. mutans. The saliva tests proved the synergistic effect exercised by the active components of EOs tested from tertiary emulsions, which cause an inhibition of the development of S. mutans in oral cavities.

Keywords: bergamot essential oil; cloves essential oil; gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS); orange essential oil.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Antibacterial activity of essential oils (EOs) against S. mutans. (A) 540 OD values (oils with antibacterial activity have optical density (OD) values < negative control); different letters in columns indicate significant differences between values according to the t-Test (p < 0.05) after analysis of variance (ANOVA one-way) (B) Micellium growth rate (MGR) (%) and micellium inhibition rate (MIR) (%) for the essential oils analyzed in different concentrations.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Antibacterial activity of main chemical compounds against S. mutans. (A) 540 OD values (compounds with antibacterial activity have OD values < negative control); different letters in columns indicate significant differences between values according to the t-Test (p < 0.05) after analysis of variance (ANOVA one-way). (B) MGR (%) and MIR (%) for the main chemical compounds analyzed in different concentrations.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Antibacterial activity of the analyzed emulsions against S. mutans (A) 540 OD values (emulsions with antibacterial activity have OD values < negative control); different letters in columns indicate significant differences between values according to the t-Test (p < 0.05) after analysis of variance (ANOVA one-way). (B) MGR (%) and MIR (%) for 50 μL emulsions.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Antibacterial activity of the analyzed emulsions against S. mutans (A) 540 OD values (emulsions with antibacterial activity have OD values < negative control); different letters in columns indicate significant differences between values according to the t-Test (p < 0.05) after analysis of variance (ANOVA one-way). (B) MGR (%) and MIR (%) for 50 μL emulsions.
Figure 4
Figure 4
540 nm OD values recorded after 1, 2, 3, 6, and 24 h when using EOs in different concentrations ((A)-CLEO, (B)-OEO, (C)-BEO) as antibacterial agents against S. mutans.
Figure 5
Figure 5
540 nm OD values recorded after 1, 2, 3, 6, and 24 h when using mono emulsions in different concentrations ((A)-ECLEO, (B)-EOEO, (C)-EBEO) as antibacterial agents against S. mutans.
Figure 6
Figure 6
540 nm OD values after 1, 2, 3, 6, and 24 h when using binary emulsions in different concentrations (A)-E(OEO/CLEO), (B)- E(OEO/BEO), (C)-E(BEO/CLEO) as antibacterial agents against S. mutans.
Figure 7
Figure 7
OD values (540 nm) recorded after 1, 2, 3, 6, and 24 h when using tertiary emulsions without chlorhexidine (A) and with chlorhexidine (B) as antibacterial agents against S. mutans.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Friedman J.Y. The Role of S. mutans in the Formation of Dental Caries: An Ecological Perspective. Sci. J. Lander Coll. Arts Sci. 2011;5:5.
    1. Forssten S.D., Björklund M., Ouwehand A.C. Streptococcus mutans, caries and simulation models. Nutrients. 2010;2:290–298. doi: 10.3390/nu2030290. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Li Y.H., Hanna M.N., Svensäter G., Ellen R.P., Cvitkovitch D.G. Cell Density Modulates Acid Adaptation in Streptococcus mutans: Implications for Survival in Biofilms. J. Bacteriol. 2001;183:6875–6884. doi: 10.1128/JB.183.23.6875-6884.2001. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tehrani M.H., Asghari G., Hajiahmadi M. Comparing Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus colony count changes following green tea mouth rinse or sodium fluoride mouth rinse use in children (Randomized double-blind controlled clinical trial) Dent. Res. J. 2011;8(Suppl. 1):58–63. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Murray P., Rosenthal K., Pfaller M. Medical Microbiology. 8th ed. Elsevier; Amsterdam, The Netherlands: 2015.

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources