Antibacterial activity of natural-based toothpaste incorporated with nano-hydroxyapatite from fish bone against dental caries bacteria

Abstract

Toothpaste formulation development has become important due to dental health problems. There has been a large array of improvements in the formulation including fluoride and microbeads (MBs) incorporation. However, the typical problems of the current toothpaste formulation are caused due to the fluoride and MBs toxicity issues on consumer health and aquatic animals. There is an urgent need to rectify this problem through the development of environmentally friendly hydroxyapatite (HAp) toothpaste using different natural components. This study was set out to determine the optimum gelling agent in toothpaste formulation and to investigate the effect of different combinations of the components in HAp-based toothpaste against Streptococcus mutans. The antibacterial activity of the developed toothpaste formulation was investigated using a well-diffusion method and the optimum concentration of the gelling agent (Arabic gum) was determined using a rheometer. One of the most significant findings in the study was the optimum concentration of the gelling agent was found at 55% and a combination of formulation with clove oil (CO) demonstrated the largest size of inhibition against S. mutans (CO = 24 mm, CO with formulation = 11 mm) compared to the other tested components. Findings from this study have suggested that the combination of formulation in HAp-based toothpaste with CO demonstrated the best bacterial inhibitory effect and the optimum gelling agent was at 55%. The overall finding is particularly important in the formulation development of HAp-based toothpaste, thus contributing to an increased supply of HAp in meeting its demand in the Halal market.