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Updated: Sep 21, 2025
Systematic Approach to Identify Novel Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Molecules from Plants' Extracts and Fractions to Prevent Dental Caries
Published on: March 31, 2021
Efficacy of marine algal extracts against oral pathogens - A systematic review
Vikneshan Murugaboopathy1, R Saravankumar2, R Mangaiyarkarasi3
1Department of Public Health Dentistry, Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Pondicherry, India.
Introduction:
Marine algae possess a plethora of secondary active metabolites which has many biomedical applications. Anti-bacterial activity against oral cariogenic bacteria is reported in literature, however there is no comprehensive review available. Hence, this review is attempted to collate all the evidence available regarding the marine algal extracts and its constituents against oral cariogenic bacteria.
Methods:
Electronic search was conducted in the Google scholar, the Pubmed database and various clinical trial registries. Included studies were clinical, in-vitro studies assessing DMFT, DMFS, minimum inhibitory concentration or colony forming unit counts.
Result:
A total of 19 trials were obtained out of which only 7 were eligible for this review. Quality assessment was done by Higgins and Greens (2011) method. Results showed all the studies where they used crude algal extracts or its active constituents were showing anti-bacterial activity.
Conclusion:
Thus, this review showed that marine algal extracts and other constituents are having anti-microbial properties, making them potential anti-microbial agents for oral hygiene maintenance without adverse effects of currently available chemical based oral care products.
