Synergistic Antibacterial Activity of Capsella bursa-pastoris and Glycyrrhiza glabra Against Oral Pathogens

Background: Oral infections and dental caries are still considered as serious public health problem and inflict a costly burden to health care services around the world especially in developing countries. Objectives: In the present study, we evaluated the antibacterial activity of Capsella bursa-pastoris alone and also combined with Glycyrrhiza glabra against Streptococcus mutans, S. sanguis, Actinomyces viscosus, Enterococcus faecalis as oral pathogens. Materials and Methods: The antimicrobial activities of an ethanol extract of C. bursa-pastoris alone and in combination with G. glabra were in vitro tested against six reference strains of oral pathogenic bacteria. The antimicrobial activities of the extracts were examined using disc diffusion method and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determined by both broth and Agar dilution methods and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) by broth dilution methods. Results: In this study, C. bursa-pastoris extract showed good antibacterial activity against six bacteria in using in of the mentioned methods. No strain in this study showed resistance against this extract. Antibacterial activity of mixed extract including C .bursa-pastoris and G. glabra was evaluated and showed that mixed extract was more effective against all bacteria than any of the cases alone that indicate the synergistic effect between these two extracts. Conclusions: C. bursa-pastoris and its mixture with G. glabra are suggested as appropriate candidates to control dental caries and endodontic infections.