Sofrata Abier H, Claesson Rolf L K, Lingström Peter K, Gustafsson Anders K
Periodontology Department, Institute of Odontology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. abier.sofrataki.se
J Periodontol. 2008 Aug;79(8):1474-9. doi: 10.1902/jop.2008.070506.
The chewing stick (miswak) is used for oral hygiene in many parts of the world. In addition to the mechanical removal of plaque, an antibacterial effect has been postulated; however, tests of miswak extract from Salvadora persica (Arak) disclosed only low to moderate antibacterial effects. This may be attributable to the extraction process. Our aim was to test in vitro the antibacterial effect of miswak pieces, without extraction, on bacteria implicated in the etiology of periodontitis and caries.
Miswak pieces were standardized by size and weight (0.07 and 0.14 g) and tested against Streptococcus mutans, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (previously Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans), Porphyromonas gingivalis, and, as a reference, Haemophilus influenzae. The miswak pieces were tested in two ways: embedded in the agar plate or suspended above the agar plate.
The inhibitory effect was most pronounced on P. gingivalis, A. actinomycetemcomitans, and H. influenzae, less on S. mutans, and least on L. acidophilus. Suspended miswak had comparable or stronger effects than miswak embedded in agar. The 0.14-g suspended miswak exhibited significantly greater inhibition on A. actinomycetemcomitans and H. influenzae than the 0.14-g miswak embedded in agar (P<0.01 and P<0.001, respectively).
Miswak embedded in agar or suspended above the agar plate had strong antibacterial effects against all bacteria tested. The antibacterial effect of suspended miswak pieces suggests the presence of volatile active antibacterial compounds.
咀嚼棒（阿拉伯树胶棒）在世界许多地区用于口腔卫生。除了机械清除牙菌斑外，还推测有抗菌作用；然而，对来自佩氏沙棘（阿拉伯树胶）的咀嚼棒提取物的测试仅显示出低至中等的抗菌效果。这可能归因于提取过程。我们的目的是在体外测试未经提取的咀嚼棒碎片对与牙周炎和龋齿病因相关细菌的抗菌作用。
将咀嚼棒碎片按大小和重量标准化（0.07克和0.14克），并针对变形链球菌、嗜酸乳杆菌、伴放线聚集杆菌（以前称为放线放线杆菌）、牙龈卟啉单胞菌进行测试，作为对照，还测试了流感嗜血杆菌。咀嚼棒碎片通过两种方式进行测试：嵌入琼脂平板或悬浮在琼脂平板上方。
对牙龈卟啉单胞菌、伴放线聚集杆菌和流感嗜血杆菌的抑制作用最为明显，对变形链球菌的抑制作用较小，对嗜酸乳杆菌的抑制作用最小。悬浮的咀嚼棒比嵌入琼脂中的咀嚼棒具有相当或更强的效果。0.14克悬浮的咀嚼棒对伴放线聚集杆菌和流感嗜血杆菌的抑制作用明显大于嵌入琼脂中的0.14克咀嚼棒（分别为P<0.01和P<0.001）。
嵌入琼脂或悬浮在琼脂平板上方的咀嚼棒对所有测试细菌都有很强的抗菌作用。悬浮的咀嚼棒碎片的抗菌作用表明存在挥发性活性抗菌化合物。
