antibacterial effects of ethanolic extractions of aloe vera, black tea, pomegranate and orange on streptococcus mutans: an in-vitro study

Background and objectives: this study was designed to assess antibacterial effects of herbal alternatives such as aloe vera, black tea, pomegranate and orange extractions.materials and methods: in this in-vitro study, extractions of aloe barbadensis miller (aloe vera), camellia sinensis assamica (black tea), punica granatum (pomegranate) and citrus spp. (orange) were prepared. the antibacterial activity of the extractions was assessed against streptococcus mutans atcc 35668 using well-diffusion technique. the microbial inhibition zones were assessed using antibiotic zone reader. the antibacterial activity was assessed using chromatography to report minimum inhibitory concentration (mic) and minimum bacterial concentration (mbc). to analyze data, spss v.26.0 (ibm, armonk, ny, usa) and anova were used at the significance level of 0.05.results: all four extractions included a significant antibacterial effect against streptococcus mutans. pomegranate included the highest antibacterial effect, compared to black tea, aloe vera, orange and positive control. (p = 0.042, p = 0.025, p = 0.003 and p < 0.001, respectively) following pomegranate, black tea included the highest antibacterial effect, compared to aloe vera, orange and positive control (p = 0.039, p = 0011 and p = 0.007, respectively). aloe vera included a higher antibacterial effect than those orange and positive control did (p = 0.033 and p = 0.026, respectively). orange included a higher antibacterial effect than that the positive control did (p = 0.048).conclusions: the studied herbal medicines were effective against one of the most important microorganisms of oral cavity, streptococcus mutans, which is involved in tooth decay and gingival inflammation.