Punica granatum (Pomegranate) Extract Is Active Against Dental Plaque

In the present work, we studied the effect of the hydro-alcoholic extract (HAE) from Punica granatum (pomegranate) fruits on dental plaque microorganisms. The study was conducted on 60 healthy patients (33 females and 27 males, with age ranging from 9 to 25 years) using fixed orthodontic appliances, and randomly distributed into 3 groups of 20 patients each. The first group (control) used distilled water, while the second and third groups used chlorhexidine (standard) and HAE as mouth-rinses, respectively. The dental plaque material was collected from each patient, before and after a 1-min mouth-rinse with 15 ml of either distilled water, chlorhexidine or HAE. In both dental plaque collections, the material was removed from patients without oral hygiene, for 24 h (no tooth brushing). Dental plaque samples were diluted in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) plated on Mueller-Hinton agar, and incubated for 48 h, at 37°C. Results, expressed as the number of colony forming units per milliliter (CFU/mL), show that the HAE was very effective against dental plaque microorganisms, decreasing the CFU/ml by 84% (CFU X105, before mouth-rinse: 154.0 ±41.18; after mouth-rinse: 25.4 ±7.76). While similar values were observed with chlorhexidine, used as standard and positive control (79% inhibition), only an 11% inhibition of CFU/ml was demonstrated in the distilled water group, negative control (CFUX 105, before mouth-rinse: chlorhexidine, 208.7 ±58.81and distilled water, 81.1 ±10.12; after mouth-rinse: chlorhexidine, 44.0 ±15.85 and distilled water, 71.9 ±8.68). The HAE presented also an antibacterial activity against selected microorganisms, and may be a possible alternative for the treatment of dental plaque bacteria.