Production of herbal toothpaste: Physical, organoleptic, phyto-compound, and antimicrobial properties

To investigate the possibility of producing dental antimicrobial toothpaste from Allium cepa L skin chaff, Azadirachta indica A. seed, and Tetrapleura tetraptera pod extracts.

Ethanolic extracts of the three plant materials were obtained. These were subjected to phytochemical and GC-MS analyses. The different extract combinations were used for the production of various toothpaste. The toothpaste's physical, organoleptic, and antimicrobial properties were determined.

From the phytochemical analysis, Allium cepa has the highest phenolic (1.20 mgGAE/g), saponin (14.80%), tannin (0.11 mg/g) and DPPH (82.80%), Tetrapleura tetraptera has the highest flavonoid (0.33 mg RE/g), and alkaloid (20.50 mg/g) while, Azadirachta indica has the highest oxalate (77.50 mg/g). The GC-MS revealed significant chemical components of Allium cepa as 1-heptatriacotanol, germacra-1(10),4,11(13)-trien-12-oic acid, 6-alpha-hydroxy-,gamma-lactone, (E,E)-, 11H-Indeno [1,2b] quinoxaline, 2-methyl- while Azadirachta indica have butyl benzoate, benzoic acid, hexyl ester, hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester and Tetrapleura tetraptera have the following 15-hydroxypentadecanoic acid, cis-9-hexadecenal, and 11,13-dimethyl-12-tetradecen-1-ol acetate. All the produced toothpaste has a brown colour and a pleasant smell, with pH from 7.30 to 8.10 and foamability from 19.23% of stand-alone toothpaste to 44.44% of Allium cepa-based. Amongst the produced toothpaste Allium cepa-based toothpaste has the best antimicrobial activities against the tested bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca) and fungi (Candida albicans and Candida parapsilosis). The stand-alone toothpaste has the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration of 1.25 mg/mL against bacteria and fungi.

The study provides information on the production of human health-friendly dental antimicrobial toothpaste from plant materials.