Antibacterial Effect of an Herbal Product Persica on Porphyromonas Gingivalis and Aggregatibacter Actinomycetemcomitans: An In Vitro Study

Objective: The plant Salvadora persica is used for oral hygiene in many parts of the world. It has been suggested that it has antibacterial properties, in addition to its ability to mechanically remove plaques. The aim of this study was to assess the antimicrobial activi- ty of the herbal product Persica containing Salvadora persica against periodontopathogens Porphyromonas gingivalis and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans in vitro. Materials and Methods: Fifty patients with moderate and severe periodontitis were re- cruited. Using paper points, subgingival plaque samples were taken from pockets with attachment loss ≥ 3mm. The samples were subjected to microbial culture to yield P. gingi- valis and A. actinomycetemcomitans. The ditch plate method was used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of the bacteria to Persica compared to chlorhexidine and distilled wa- ter. The growth inhibition zones of microorganisms around the ditches were measured in millimeters. The data were analyzed using SPSS 16. Freidman test and Wilcoxon signed ranks test with Bonferroni adjustment were used for analysis of variance with 5% signific- ance level. P<0.05 for main comparisons and P< 0.017 for multiple comparisons were considered statistically significant. Results: P. gingivalis was sensitive to chlorhexidine and persica. There was a significant difference (P=0.001) between antimicrobial activity of chlorhexidine (mean 28.733mm, SD 5.216) and Persica (mean 16.333mm, SD 5.259) compared to water against P. gingiva- lis. There was a significant difference (P< 0.001) between the antimicrobial activity of chlorhexidine (24.045mm, SD 3.897) and Persica (0.545mm, SD 2.558) with respect to A. actinomycetemcomitans. There was no significant difference (P=0.317) between the anti- microbial activity of Persica and water against A. actinomycetemcomitans. Conclusion: The herbal product Persica had significant antimicrobial activity against P. gingivalis and negligible antimicrobial activity against A. actinomycetemcomitans com- pared to 0.2% chlorhexidine.