Potential application of Bacillus subtilis SPB1 lipopeptides in toothpaste formulation

Toothpaste is a gel dentifrice used with a toothbrush as an accessory to clean, keep and promote oral hygiene. The literature review suggests that there are many different formulations of toothpastes and that each of their individual components present specific functions. The concentration of the toothpaste ingredients must be appropriately chosen taking into account the purposes of the toothpaste. Biosurfactants are considered as suitable molecules for application in many formulations such as in toothpaste one. In the present work, two dentifrice formulations were investigated and their efficiencies were tested using chemical surfactant agent and lipopeptide biosurfactant isolated from Bacillus subtilis SPB1. The physicochemical properties were analyzed considering several tests mainly spreading ability, water activity, pH, foaming and cleaning tests. The obtained results indicated that the SPB1 biosurfactant was as efficient as the chemical surfactant confirming its potential utilization in toothpaste formulation compared to the commercial one. The evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of the formulated dentifrice was carried out against eight bacteria. The results demonstrated that the biosurfactant-based product exhibited an important antimicrobial activity, which was very effective against Enterobacter sp and Salmonella typhinirium.