Potential effect of Allium sativum bulb for the treatment of biofilm forming clinical pathogens recovered from periodontal and dental caries

Biofilm producing clinical bacterial isolates were isolated from periodontal and dental caries samples and identified as, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Streptococcus sanguis, S. salivarius, S. mutansand Staphylococcus aureus. Among the identified bacterial species, S. aureus and S. mutansshowed strong biofilm producing capacity. The other isolated bacteria, Streptococcus sanguis, S. salivarius showed moderate biofilm formation. These pathogens were subjected for the production of extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) in nutrient broth medium and the strain S. aureus synthesized more amounts of EPS (610 ± 11.2 µg/ml) than S. sanguis (480 ± 5.8 µg/ml).EPS production was found to be less in S. salivarius (52 ± 3.8 µg/ml).The solvent extract of A. sativum bulb showed the phytochemicals such as, carbohydrate, total protein, alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, tannins and sterioids. The solvent extract of A. sativum bulb showed wide ranges of activity against the selected dental pathogens. The difference in antibacterial activity of the solvent extract revealed differences in solubility of phytochemicals in organic solvents. Ethanol extract was highly active againstS. aureus (25 ± 2 mm). The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of crude garlic bulb varied widely and this clearly showed that bacteria exhibits different level of susceptibility to secondary metabolites. MIC value ranged between 20 ± 2 mg/ml and 120 ± 6 mg/ml and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) value ranged from 60 ± 5 mg/l to 215 ± 7 mg/ml. To conclude, A. sativum bulb can be effectively used to treat periodontal and dental caries infections.