including the bacteria responsible for dental caries.12 Furthermore, the natural phytochemicals isolated from herbal medicines could offer effective alternatives to antibiotics and represent a promising approach to the prevention and treatment of dental caries and other oral infections.13 Screening for herbal medicines effective against oral bacteria is the required first step in the identification of natural phytochemicals
that could be used as antimicrobial substances.11 Therefore, the present study was performed to show that extracts of medicinal herbs inhibit the growth of oral bacteria as well as the synthesis of water-insoluble glucans by S.mutans.