Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activity of Essential Oil of Cymbopogon citratus against Oral Microflora Associated with Dental Plaque

Aims: Dental biofilms are complex, multi-species microorganism communities that inhabit the oral cavity in the form of dental plaque which causes dental caries and periodontal diseases. The present study aims to explore the potential of Lemon Grass Essential Oil (LGEO) extracted from Cymbopogon citratus as antimicrobial and antibiofilm agent against the microorganisms responsible for dental plaque.

Study Design: Observational and comparison study.

Place and Duration of Study: Research centre, Department of Microbiology, Abasaheb Garware college, Pune, India, between Dec 2012 to Jan 2017.

Methodology: Three bacterial species primarily responsible for the biofilm formation were isolated from dental plaque and identified using 16S ribosomal RNA sequences. Five most primary colonizer of dental plaque organisms were acquired from the Microbial Type Culture Collection cultures. Antimicrobial as well as antibiofilm activity of LGEO, was determined against these eight biofilm forming microorganism. The antibiofilm activity of LGEO was evaluated against oral flora individually, as well as in consortium.

Results: LGEO displayed excellent antimicrobial activity against eight test organisms associated with dental plaque, representing four genera namely Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Lactobacillus and Candida. MIC of LGEO for all test organisms was determined as 1.5% (v/v). The LGEO was found to exhibit as high as 76% biofilm inhibitory activity even in the consortium, where the biofilm formation sometimes has been noted to be comparatively more than that of the individual organism, making LGEO a very promising antibiofilm agent.

Conclusion: LGEO present in rampantly grown plant, Cymbopogon citratus, has remarkable antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity against the dental plaque organism and thus can be the economical, convenient, natural and nontoxic herbal material to effectively control the oral microflora associated with dental plaque.