Evaluation of antimicrobial activity and tensile strength of glass ionomer cement modified with plant extract mixture

Aim: is to assess antimicrobial activity and diametral tensile strength (DTS) of glass ionomer cement (GIC) modified with plant extract mixture (PE). Material and Methods: conventional GIC was utilized. It is treated with PE. Alcoholic extract of Aloe Vera (AVE) was prepared. Using a Soxhlet extractor, an alcoholic extract of Salvadora persica(SPE) was produced. The PE was incorporated to the glass ionomer liquid (GIL).Forty Samples were fabricated using 6 mm diameter and 3 mm thick split-Teflon molds. Samples were divided into two main groups (n=20): group I (antimicrobial test) and group II (diametral tensile strength test). Each group was divided into Four subgroups (n=5) according to liquid composition into: subgroup (A): control subgroup, subgroup (B): 1.5GIL: 1PE, subgroup(C): 1GIL:1PE and subgroup (D): 1GIL:1.5PE. Antimicrobial activity against Streptococcus mutants (SM) was appraised by the agar well diffusion assay method. Universal testing machine was utilized to determine (DTS). Results : One way ANOVA test for quantitative data between the four groups followed by post hoc LSD analysis between each two groups were used. The highest antimicrobial activity was in subgroup ID (1GIL:1.5 PE) and the lowest value was in control subgroup. The highest DTS was in subgroup IIC (1GIL:1PE) and lowest was in control subgroup. Conclusions: Plant extract significantly improved the antimicrobial activity of GIC against SM. The DTS of GIC was improved within limits by addition of PE only up to (1 GIL: 1 PE).