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Betel leaves as mouth rinse "It is a love affair that begins at birth between the human and microbe". At birth the oral cavity is essentially a sterile, warm and moist incubator containing a variety of nutritional substances with saliva. The saliva is composed of water, amino acids, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and inorganic compounds.
Salivaries is the only species, which are recovered from the oral cavity even as early as the second day after birth. These species have a predominant role in the oral hygiene. If these are not properly controlled, it may lead to:
In general, mouth odor may be due to odor from the lungs or from the mouth itself. The odor from the lungs is systemic in origin and emanate from the lungs, e.g., volatile compounds like alcohol makes its characteristic odor during its excretion through the lungs. Mouth odor arises from conditions within the oral cavity due to a lot of factors such as:
The intensity of breath and mouth odor increases with age. The breath of infants and young children has a somewhat sweet and even pleasant quality. During adolescence and adulthood the quality of breath becomes less pleasant and finally in old age, it becomes heavy, pungent and of such intensity as somewhat disagreeable. The breath of every person when first awakened from sleep is pungent and often disagreeable. The morning breath is of greater intensity than during the day, but it is not necessarily so and in all ages. Much oral debris is normally removed during the working hours by the action of the tongue, lips, saliva and food during swallowing, mastication and speech. The 8 to 9 hours of relative oral inactivity during sleep provide putrefactive bacteria with an opportunity to breakdown whatever debris and saliva may be present in the oral cavity. Mouth rinse:
Classification of mouth rinse: 1. Cosmetic mouth rinses consisting of water, alcohol, flavor and color. They also contain surface-active agents for the purpose of assisting in the solubilization of essential oils to aid in penetration and cleansing of the mouth and teeth. 2. Mouth rinses - primary purpose is to remove or destroy the bacteria found in large numbers in the oral cavity. The antiseptic ingredients are responsible for this effect. 3. Astringent mouth rinses in addition to their effect on the oral mucosa, also serve the purpose of flocculating and precipitating proteinacious material, so that it can be removed by flushing. 4. Mouth rinse concentrates, which are designed for use only after dilution. 5. Buffered mouth rinses which depend for the action primarily on the pH of solution. Alkaline preparations for e.g., may be helpful in reducing stingy saliva or reducing mucinous deposits by dispersion of protein. 6. Deodorizing mouth rinses, which may depend on its antibacterial action causing agents. 7. Therapeutic mouth rinses which are formulated for the purpose of relieving infection, preventing dental caries, etc. Betel leaves as mouth rinse: Generally to prevent the bad odor of the mouth people brush with dental pastes. Literature shows that this brushing will be effective for about 4 hours only. To keep the mouth fresh and to have fresh breath, it is necessary to prolong the freshness by some other means. Mouth rinses are better in preference to prolong the mouth freshness during daytime. Currently there are a number of synthetic mouth rinses available in the market and prolong use of these may cause:
In the perspective of the above drawbacks of synthetic mouthwashes and general awareness, there is a need for herbal mouthwashes, because of their lesser side effects. In South Asian countries like India, Sri Lanka and Nepal people used to chew the betel leaf with areca nut and a little bit of lime for the refreshment of the mouth and also for carminative effect. There is a tradition in South Indian culture to treat the guests with betel leaf after a delicious food. Thus it has been proved that the medicinal uses of betel leaves were known to ancient Indians. Scientific review of the betel leaf:
Vernacular names:
Moreover, several scientific papers on betel leaves indicate that it has anti-microbial, anti-fungal and anti-oxidant properties. The ethno-medical information also indicates that their juice is used for relieving cough, sore throat, throat pain, cold and digestive complaints. Consequently in the 21st century betel leaves as mouth rinse has become popular because of its invaluable natural properties after a successful completion of its formulation and development steps in R&D. For further details, contact: P.Kailasam, Research Scholar, Department of Pharmaceutics & Drug Research, Punjabi University, Patiala -147 002, India e-mail: kailash2000@rediffmail.com Published on 27th October, 2002
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The normal flora of a newborn is established within a few days after birth. The predominant bacterial species belong to the genera Streptococcus,
Neisseria, Veilbnella, Actinomyces and Lactobacillus and Yeast are also present. In general, saliva itself has a microbial population of about 108 bacterial. in a human being.
Mouth rinses are aqueous solutions in concentrated form of one or more active ingredients with deodorant, antiseptic, local analgesic or astringent properties. They are similar preparations to gargles, but are used on the mucus membranes of the oral cavity rather than in the throat. Mouth rinses are usually diluted with warm water before use.
