Collection and Identification of Plant Parts and Dental Caries Pathogens

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Collection and Identification of Plant Parts and Dental Caries Pathogens.

 Plant Materials Collection

The small branches of locally available Z. zanthoxyloides and T. glaucescens were collected from local Ogbete main market Enugu and were authenticated by Prof. Okigbo R.N of the department of Botany of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. These plant materials were dried under the sun for two weeks and also cut into pieces of approximately 15cms and transferred to the oven set at 45°C for 20-30mins before it was reduced to fine powder with the aid of mechanical grinder. The powder plant materials were collected and stored in a tightly covered glass jar for further studies.

 Collection and Recovery of Caries Sample

The dental extracts from 20 (twenty) patients with clinical features of dental caries were collected from School of dental technology and therapy clinic, Trans-ekulu, Enugu. The patients comprised of 8 males and 12 females with ages ranging from 16-40 years.

The samples were collected under strict aseptic conditions. Prior to the collection of dental caries sampling, patient was made to rinse the tooth with water. The tooth and the surrounding field were cleaned with 3% hydrogen peroxide and then decontaminated with a 2.5% sodium hypochlorite solution. The food debris on the chewing surface was removed using a dental excavating instrument .The tooth was then extracted by a clinician and then introduced into the 20ml broth of Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) in appropriate sterile screw cap bottles. The dental caries sample was collected from the extracted tooth using an excavator under aseptic conditions. The clinical samples were mixed well using a magnetic stirrer before incubation. The samples were then inoculated using the streak plate technique on to nutrient and sabouraud dextrose agar under various culture conditions- aerobic, microaerophilic, and anaerobic culture conditions for each patient sample (Holding and Colee, 1971).

The organism isolated was identified on the basis of morphological, cultural and biochemical characteristics according to standard procedures (Holding and Colee, 1971).

2.3 PREPARATION AND EXTRACTION OF PLANT MATERIALS.

 Ethanol Extraction

20g of fine-powder stem of Z. zanthoxyloides and T. glaucescens was weighed and soaked in 200mls of ethanol in a conical flask and kept at room temperature (25°C) in a rotary shaker for 48 hours. After 48 hours, filtered through Whatman No1 filter paper; solvent was allowed to evaporate and stored at room temperature until when required for use.

2.5 IDENTIFICATION OF THE ISOLATES

The isolated organisms were identified using sub-culturing, gram staining technique and biochemical test like catalase test, indole test, coagualase test, methyl red test, oxalase test, sugar fermentation test.

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