Efficacy of Tea Tree, Sesame and Cumin Extracts against Oral Candidal Species: An In Vitro study

INTRODUCTION: Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine stated, “Let food be thy medicine and let medicine be thy food”. Authenticating this statement, bioceuticals and their role have advanced in the management of oral diseases. Use of topical and systemic drugs have had detrimental effects on oral health. To overcome this, plant extracts are alternative therapeutic agents with their limited adverse effects and salutary properties. AIM OF THE STUDY: To determine the antifungal efficacy of tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia), sesame (Sesanum indicum) and cumin (Cuminum cyminym) extracts against the oral candidal species in comparision with clotrimazole. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An in vitro study was carried out on 30 saliva samples collected from patients, who were diagnosed and confirmed by clinical and mycological examination, as suffering from oral candidiasis and subjected to culture on CHROM agar and incubated at 37˚C for 24-48 hours. The cultured Candida species were subjected to antifungal susceptibility test by agar well diffusion method. Clotrimazole (Group I - Positive control), Tea tree extracts (Group II- 5%, Group III- 10%, Group IV - 15%, Group V - 20%, Group VI - 25%), Sesame extracts (Group VII- 5%, Group VIII- 10%, Group IX - 15%, Group X - 20%, Group XI - 25%) and Cumin extracts (Group XII- 5%, Group XIII- 10%, Group XIV - 15%, Group XV- 20%, Group XVI - 25%) were inoculated in wells and incubated. Zones of inhibitions were measured with a digital Vernier's calliper and subjected to statistical analysis. ANOVA (analysis of variance) was performed to compare inhibition zones and concentrations of all the three groups. RESULTS: Antifungal efficacy of Tea tree (Group II to VI), Sesame (Group VII to IX), Cumin (Group XII to XIV) and Clotrimazole (Group I) were statistically significant with p-value < 0.05 and insignificant for Sesame (Group X and XI). Additionally, with the increase in the concentration of the extracts, there was an increase in the inhibitory efficacy against Candida species. CONCLUSION: The present research was just a venture to usual clinical approach. The results of the study reveal that Clotrimazole had higher antimicrobial activity when compared to medicinal plants, even though extracts of tea tree, sesame and cumin extracts had antimicrobial activity and it might be possible to use it as a therapeutic agent for oral candidiasis. Thus, in view of present scenario, judicious use of such natural products might not only help to minimize the deleterious effects of synthetic drugs but also prove to be cost effective, with less toxic effect