Abstract

Sarpangala Keshava Bhat*, Prashant Kumar Kalladka and Sukesh Bhat

ABSTRACT

Several species of harmful pathogens including Streptococcus mutans, Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus casei, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Enterococcus faecalis, Candida albicans, etc. harbour human oral cavity causing various problems including tooth decay, biofilm formation, gingivitis and others. Humans have the habit of chewing arecanut (Areca catechu), either alone or in combination with the leaf of Piper betle, calcium hydroxide and with or without tobacco in the form of betel quid due to its medicinal properties including improving oral hygiene, since few thousands of years. Both arecanut and betel leaf exhibits several medicinal properties including antibacterial actions. Ample research papers now exist confirming such beneficial activities in these two major chewing substances. The research papers which highlight the antibacterial actions of arecanut, betel leaf and betel quid against certain major harmful oral bacteria and fungus are retrieved and the findings are presented in this article.