Highlights
- An active ingredient of Galla Chinensis, a natural herb may fight cavity
- To maintain a healthy mouth, the oral environment must be neutral
- Herb called Galla Chinensis was revealed to inhibit the acid production
A team of researchers have discovered a Chinese herbs that may herb in preventing dental caries. The herbs has strong anti-bacterial properties and offers tooth mineralisation benefits. The team of researchers from the West China School of Stomatology have found that an active ingredient present in Galla Chinensis, a natural herb, improves its anti- caries efficacy. The study was published in The Open Dentistry Journal.
The team explains, that the for good oral health you must ensure a a neutral environment in your mouth. When the environment becomes acidic, dental caries and other tooth disorders may occur. Galla Chinensis was seen to inhibit the acid production of caries-associated bacteria as well as make teeth more resistant to acidic attack.
The researchers tested hundreds of Chinese herbs and identified that Galla Chinensis has a strong potential to prevent dental caries. Galla Chinensis also possesses substantial antiviral, anticancer, hepatoprotective, antidiarrheal and antioxidant activities, researchers shared.
However, the main active ingredient of Galla Chinensis is unknown, which restricts the application in dentistry. For the study, several Galla Chinensis extracts with different main ingredients were obtained and determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis.
The antibacterial capacity was determined using the polymicrobial biofilms model that can generate reproducible plaque-like biofilms that occur in vivo. The effect of inhibiting tooth demineralisation was tested using an in vitro pH-cycling regime, which mimicked the periodic pH change in mouth. With these new findings, the research team is working with the industry to develop new oral care products.
With Inputs from PTI