Antibacterial activity of Miswak (Salvadora persica L.) extracts on oral hygiene

Peer review under responsibility of Taibah University.

Figures & data

Table 1 Phyto-chemicals found in S. persica and their benefits for oral and dental health.

#	Chemical	Benefit to oral health	Reference
1	Sulphur	Antibacterial effect	[5]
2	Chlorides, fluorides	Enemal remineralization
3	Vitamin C	Tissue healing and repair
4	Tannins,	Reduce plaque and gingivitis	[28]
5	Silica	Removing stains
6	Alkaloids	Antibacterial activity
7	Benzyl isothiocyanate	Prevent cariogenic and genotoxic compounds
9	Essential oils	Flow of saliva and buffering pH	[13]
10	Butanediamide	Antimicrobial agent	[29]
11	N-benzyl-2-phenylacetamide	Antimicrobial agent

Table 2 Metals (mg/g) and trace metals (μg/g) found in S. persica.

Metals, mg/g		Trace metals, μg/g
Na	7.262 ± 0.002	Cr	18.05 ± 0.02	Zn	5.64 ± 0.02
Mg	1.569 ± 0.001	Mn	9.26 ± 0.03	As	0.74 ± 0.01
Al	0.051 ± 0.001	Fe	174.42 ± 0.01	Ag	5.14 ± 0.02
K	12.198 ± 0.002	Co	4.05 ± 0.02	Cd	<0.003
Ca	4.126 ± 0.001	Ni	6.01 ± 0.02	Hg	<0.005
		Cu	6.13 ± 0.01	Pb	<0.003

Fig. 1 Total count of bacterial colonies grown on LB plates for 48 h (CFU/100 μl). Blue columns: saliva sample before gargling with Miswak mouth wash. Red columns: saliva samples after gargling with Miswak mouth wash. R = 0.89, P < 0.001.

Fig. 2 Decreased growth of bacteria in percentage (%) after supplementing the LB media with 100 μg/ml of extracts.

Fig. 3 Effect of saliva pH on bacterial numbers. (A) Before using Miswak mouth wash. R = −0.58, P < 0.001. (B) After using Miswak mouth wash. R = −0.7, P < 0.001. Red line: pH. Blue line: bacterial count.

Fig. 4 Zone of inhibition for Miswak extracts. The effect of different solvents on tested bacteria strains.