Assessment of cytotoxic and antioxidant effects of Rosmarinus officinalis and fluoride containing dentifrice - an in vitro study

Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) is a medicinal plant native to the Mediterranean region and cultivated around the world. This medicinal plant possesses antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. It has been proved that naturally occurring active ingredients of herbal medicinal plants shows least adverse effects and can act as effective oral hygiene aid for the control of common oral diseases without the need for synthetically derived or chemical agents. Hence, the present study invitro was designed to assess the cytotoxic and antioxidant effects of rosemary so that it can be used as an effective plaque control measures against various oral diseases.

Rosemary leaves were procured from the markets of South India and were powdered to prepare the aqueous and ethanolic plant extract. The plant extracts were then subjected for cytotoxic and antioxidant analysis. Cytotoxic effects were evaluated using Brine shrimp lethality assay and antioxidant effects using DPPH radical scavenging assay. After the evaluation of antioxidant and cytotoxic property, rosemary-based toothpaste using herbal tooth formulation was prepared.

The results show that 5,10 and 15μl conc. all the nauplii fishes were alive in rosemary toothpaste whereas 60% of fishes were dead. Rosemary toothpaste have good antioxidant property when compared to fluoride toothpaste. Descriptive statistics were used.

From the above findings, rosemary containing dentifrice has very less cytotoxicity and good antioxidant properties when compared with fluoride dentifrice and it can be served as an excellent replacement of several commercially available dentifrices.