Effect of Grapefruit seed, Cassiae torae Semen and Angelicae gigantis Radix on growth Streptococcus mutans

Streptococcus mutans is an etiologic agent of dental caries and has been known to induce dental caries by the process of initial attachment, proliferation and acid production. For the prevention of dental caries which is caused by this process, extracts of natural products have recently been introduced. Therefore we isolated extracts from twenty two natural products and investigated the inhibitory effect of these extracts on growth of S. mutans using agar diffusion method. To investigate the possibility of using extracts from Grapefruit seed, Cassiae torae Semen and Angelicae gigantis Radix which presented growth inhibitory effect against S mutans as anticariologic agents, we made four mixtures of extracts from Grapefruit seed, Cassiae torae Semen and Angelicae gigantis Radix to reduce a bitter taste of Grapefruit seed. After we selected a mixture which had high growth inhibitory activity against S. mutans by agar diffusion method, we examined the effect of the selected mixture on the growth of S mutans according to exposure time. Extracts from Grapefruit seed inhibited the growth of S. mutans at 0.1 %, extracts from Cassiae torae Semen and Angelicae gigantis Radix also inhibited growth of S. mutans at I respectively. A mixture of extracts from Grapefruit seed, Cassiae torae Semen and Angelicae gigantis Radix which was combined at 3: 3: 4 and 4: 2: 4 ratio presented wide growth inhibitory zone of S mutans. A mixture of extracts from Grapefruit seed, Cassiae torae Semen and Angelicae gigantis Radix which combined at 3: 3: 4 inhibited growth of S mutans - after 2 hour exposure at 0.1 % concentration. In conclusion, a mixture of extracts from Grapefruit seed, Cassiae torae Semen and Angelicae gigantis Radix turned out to be an effective anticariologic agent because this mixture inhibited growth of S. mutans which is the etiologic agent of dental caries during short exposure time at low concentration.ope