Use of Emblica officinalis Aqueous Extract as Antifungal Agent and Its Effect Over Physical Properties of Denture Base Resins

摘要

Presently available synthetic antifungal denture base disinfectants used against Candida albicans colonizing on dentures leading tooral candidiasis, adversely affect the health of oral mucosa and also the physical and mechanical properties of heat cure acrylic denture base resins. Hence, as an herbal alternative to synthetic disinfectants, here we examined the in vitro antifungal activity of Emblica officinalis crude aqueous extract against Candida albicans and also its effects over physical and mechanical properties of resin. Minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum fungicidal concentration of E.officinalis extract and sodium perborate based antifungal disinfectant (control) was determined using agar well diffusion method. A microbial growth kinetic study was performed at different time intervals. Inhibition of Candida adhesion to 1 × 1 cm resin specimen was determined. Average surface roughness of resin specimen treated with extract and control was determined using atomic force microscope and flexural strength was determined using 3-point bend test and results were analyzed statistically. E. officinalis aqueous extract caused 99% fungal adhesion inhibition at 200 mg/ml and exposure time of 60 min. It caused insignificant changes in average surface roughness of denture base resin when compared to control (p ＜ 0.05). Alteration in flexural strength of acrylic specimen remained statistically insignificant with negligible changes between groups. The study concludes that E. officinalis crude aqueous extract is excellent alternative to synthetic antifungal disinfectants and can be considered for preparing herbal disinfectants after further evaluation of their toxicity and stability as formulation.