Abstract

Dental disease places enormous financial, socio-economic and psychological burden on any society, due to the associated debilitating pain and distress that often interfere with a patient’s daily activities and productivity. The situation is further worsened by the current widespread antibiotic resistance, as most organisms that were previously susceptible to common antibiotics used in dentistry, have become resistant. However, public confidence in the use of medicinal plants as alternative remedies for oral infections is rapidly growing and extracts from plants such as Alchornea cordifolia have long been used for the treatment of toothache and gum infections. Phytochemical studies have also revealed that extracts from A. cordifolia contain various biochemical compounds that mediate several pharmacological effects including antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities. Despite these findings, little was known concerning the antimicrobial activity of A. cordifolia against some common pathogenic oral bacteria. This to investigatd the antibacterial effects of methanol and chloroform extracts of A. cordifolia leaves on a group of isolated pathogenic oral bacteria, including S. mutans and Lactobacillus sp. A. cordifolia leaves were collected from their natural habitat in a small swampy garden around the Otite axis of Sapele, Delta State, South-South Nigeria. Plants were collected during the rainy season and authenticated. Using bacterial cell culture and agar well diffusion techniques, crude methanol and chloroform extracts of A. cordifolia leaves have potent anti-bacterial effects against isolated pathogenic oral bacteria. 20 mg/ml each of crude methanol and chloroform extracts of A. cordifolia leaves produced average zones of inhibition ranging between 21 mm and 23 mm against Streptococcus mutans and 18 mm against Lactobacillus species. These findings suggest that polar and non-polar extracts of A. cordifolia could potentially function as an alternative to synthetic antibiotics in the treatment of oral infections including dental caries and its systemic sequelae

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