Abstract:

Background: Oral diseases are among the major diseases affecting people worldwide, poor oral health is associated with many systemic diseases and affect the overall quality of life. In Mwanza-Tanzania, there are limited number of dental clinics which offer dental care in quite expensive charges. Hence there is need to develop newer drugs which will prevent dental problems which may lead to lessen the need for medical intervention hence this study on Candida albicans which is associated with dental caries and oral thrush on Euclea natalensis root bark was used to test its antifungal activity.

Methodology: The study was cross-sectional based conducted between August and September, 2020 done at CUHAS Microbiology laboratory. The bark root of E. natalensis was separated from the wood dried, grinded and sieved to get fine powder which was taken extracted using 96% ethanol and aqueous. The ethanol extract concentrations of 100,80,60,40 and 30mg/ml was left open for 30 minutes to allow evaporation of ethanolic part. The aqueous extracts were in concentrations of 40, 30, 20 and 15 mg/ml.8 isolates archived from cold room at -40’C cultured in Sucrose-Dextrose-agar were used. The method used to determine antifungal activity and minimum inhibitory concentrations were disc diffusion method and pour plate method respectively. The data obtained in an experiment was recorded in a log book and then transferred in the Ms-excel in the computer.

Results: In disc diffusion method; aqueous extract showed no inhibition on the isolates while ethanol extract showed highest inhibition at 30 mg/ml with mean zone of inhibition (±SD) of (9.3±2.1 mm). In Pour plate method; aqueous extract showed inhibition at concentration of 40 mg/ml as a minimum inhibition in 1 out of 8 isolates and ethanol also showed inhibition in 1 out of 8 isolates of concentration of 30 mg/ml. The inhibition of fungal growth confirmed poor sensitivity of Candida albicans to E. natalensis extracts.

Conclusion: Euclea natalensis root bark showed poor activity on Candida albicans. Further studies with higher concentrations should be carried out to obtain concentrations which exhibits effective activity against oral candidiasis.