Pengaruh Golongan Senyawa Aktif Daun Sirih Merah (Piper crocatum Ruiz & Pav) terhadap Pertumbuhan Streptococcus mutans dan Aktivitas Enzim Glukosiltransferase

Background. Dental caries is a major problem of dental health in Indonesia. Streptococcus mutans is a kind of bacteria that leads to caries. In this recent time the substances used to eliminate the caries cannot solve the problem because S. mutans is resistant to those materials. Moreover, the substance results on side effect that can be occurred after 10 years of consumption. This meantime, red betel leaves is a promising material to solve the problem of lack of substance for treating dental caries. The red betel leaves contain active compounds such as essential oil, flavonoid, alkaloid, and phenolic compounds. The active compounds are foreseeable on impeding of caries development. Goals. This research is aimed to analyze the inhibition of the active compounds in the red betel leaves against S. mutans and the activity of glucosyltransferase. Materials and Methods. Pure cultures of S. mutans have been treated by essential oil, alkaloid, flavonoid, phenolic compounds and povidone iodine as positive control as well as distilled water as negative control. The growth inhibition test of S. mutans was carried out with liquid dilution test and diffusion test. The growth inhibition test of glucosyltransferase was done by measuring the levels formed fructose and then is analyzed by Somogyi-nelson method. The data was analyzed using one-way anova with the confidence level of 95%. Result and Discussion. Essential oil and alkaloid have the smallest MIC compared with the other active compounds (5,000 µg/mL) but it is larger than povione iodine as positive control. The essential oil has inhibition zone diameter that has insignificant compared with povidone iodine in the high or low concentration. The essential oil gives the insignificant inhibition to the activity of glucosyltransferase compared with povidone iodine. Conclusion. The essential oil of red betel leaves as active compounds has the strongest inhibition level for the growth of S. mutans and activity of glucosyltransferase