• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.279-286
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• 2020

Natural extracts were isolated from 20 kinds of medicinal plants that have been traditionally widely used in Korea to develop treatments for dental caries. Medicinal plants showing antibacterial activity against a cariogenic bacterium, Streptococcus sobrinus KCOM 1157 were investigated. The natural extracts of Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Sophora flavescens, Coptis Chinensis, Mentha arvensis, Pinus densiflora, Spirodela polyrhiza showed antimicrobial activities against S. sobrinus KCOM 1157. The extracts of Pinus densiflora, Sophora flavescens, Coptis Chinensis among these medical herbs showed significant antimicrobial activity. These results suggested that the natural products of Pinus densiflora, Sophora flavescens, Coptis Chinensis could be the potential source of anticariogenic agent against dental pathogens including S. sobrinus.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.2036-2042
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• 2016

We evaluated the potentials of 10 isothiocyanates (ITCs) from cruciferous vegetables and radish root hydrolysate for inhibiting the growth of oral pathogens, with an emphasis on assessing any structure-function relationship. Structural differences in ITCs impacted their antimicrobial activities against oral pathogens differently. The indolyl ITC (indol-3-carbinol) was the most potent inhibitor of the growth of oral pathogens, followed by aromatic ITCs (benzyl ITC (BITC) and phenylethyl ITC (PEITC)) and aliphatic ITCs (erucin, iberin, and sulforaphene). Sulforaphene, which is similar in structure, but has one double bond, showed higher antimicrobial activity than sulforaphane. Erucin, which has a thiol group, showed higher antimicrobial activity than sulforaphane, which has a sulfinyl group. BITC and iberin with a short chain exhibited higher antimicrobial potential than PEITC and sulforaphane with a longer chain, respectively. ITCs have strong antimicrobial activities and may be useful in the prevention and management of dental caries.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.273-276
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• 2000

In the course of surveying the anti-plaque agents for dental caries prevention, the extract of Korean green tea leaves (KGTL) was tested for inhibitory activity against Streptococcus mutans adhering to glass surfaces in the presence of crude glucosyltransferase (GTase). The extracts of KGTL showed a positive inhibitory activity against GTase. The active compound was purified through Sephadex LH-20 and MCI gel CHP-20P columns. A positive reaction was shown in the anisaldehyde-$H_2SO_4$ test, which confirmed the condensed tannin. The inhibitory compound was identified as 3-galloylprocyanidin $B_3$ through IR, negative FAB-mass, and $^{1}H$-NMR spectroscopic analyses. Acetone extract and 3- galloylprocyanidin $B_3$ of KGTL showed inhibitory effect against GTase. The percent of inhibition was determinated to be 71.84% (P<0.01) with 10 mM 3-galloylprocyanidin B3. The 3-galloylprocyanidin $B_3$, which possessed a galloyl, showed a higher inhibitory activity against glucosyltransferase than monomeric (+)-catechin and procyanidine $B_3$ which had no galloyl group.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.95-100
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• 2014

Objectives : The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of bamboo charcoal on Streptococcus mutans which is one of the most important causative agents of dental caries. Methods : S. mutans was incubated with or without bamboo charcoal and then changes were observed in its cell viability and antibacterial effect. Oral epithelial cells viabillity(human gingival fibroblast, HGF) was performed using MTT assay. Antibacterial effect was analyzed using a dilution plating method and agar diffusion method. Results : Oral epithelial cells, human gingival fibroblast (HGF) showed a tendency to increase in bamboo charcoal treatment solution concentrations(0.5, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10%). The bamboo charcoal had an antibacterial effect on S. mutans. Antibacterial effect of bamboo charcoal for the bacterium was 58%. Charcoal concentration of 2% and 5% in the inhibition zone showed a minimal growth, but the concentration of 10% bamboo charcoal in inhibition zone revealed a conspicuous antibacterial activity. Conclusions : Overall results suggested that the bamboo charcoal proved to be bactericidal effect on S. mutans.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.917-923
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• 2013

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of expertise and awareness of information on toothpaste in dental hygienists and to give patients information on toothpaste. Methods : The subjects was 205 dental hygienists working at dental clinic, dental hospital or college dental hospital in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. They filled out the questionaire from 13th to 27th April, 2013. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS 21.0 program and significant level was set at p=0.05. Results : The awareness of information on toothpaste was the highest in dental hygienists having under 3 years career and working at dental clinics(p<0.001). The level of expertise on toothpaste was the highest in those having over 5 years career and working at general hospital or college dental hospital(p<0.001). In association with the effect of toothpaste(p<0.05), experienced dental hygienists had a higher knowledge(1.68 point) that those who had no experience(2.27 point). Instruction of the oral care devices included 27.5% of dental floss, 27.1% of toothbrush and 25.4% of proxabrush, and 4.9% of toothpaste. Conclusions : The results revealed that the right choice of the toothpaste would be the best prevention of dental caries and it is necessary to educate the dental hygienists for the toothpaste information.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.84-87
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• 2008

In this research, we screened for glucosyltransferase (GTase) inhibitors that effectively prevent the dental caries from 420 kinds of boiled water extracts of herbs and wild plants and searched for GTase inhibitory activities. Among them, 13 kinds of hot water extracts had high GTase inhibitory activities and especially, we focused on Foeniculum vulgare which showed the highest inhibitory activity on GTase. The boiled water extract of F. vulgare was stable at high temperature and showed as a mixed type of competitive and uncompetitive inhibition kinetic behavior. It did not have antibacterial effect on Streptococcus mutans and had inhibitory activity on GTase. Specially, in the clinical trial, the group treated by boiled water extract of F. vulgare showed more decrease of plague index at 4.8 point than untreated group. These results suggested that boiled water extract of F. vulgare can effectively suppress the plague formation as it inhibits the GTase activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1142-1149
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• 2004

Streptococcus mutans has the capacity of inducing dental caries. Thus, to develop a novel way of preventing dental caries, a cell wall hydrolase-producing strain was isolated and its characteristics were investigated. Among 200 alkalophilic strains isolated from soil, 8 strains exhibited lytic activities against Streptococcus mutans. However, strain YU5215 with the highest cell wall hydrolase activity was selected for further study. Strain YU5215 was identified as a novel strain of Bacillus based on analyzing its 16S rDNA sequence and Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, and thus designated as Bacillus mutanolyticus YU5215. The optimal conditions for the production of the cell wall hydrolase from Bacillus mutanolyticus YU5215 consisted of glucose ($0.8\%$), yeast extract ($1.2\%$), polypeptone ($0.5\%$), $K_{2}HPO_{4}\;(0.1\%$), $MgSO_{4}{\cdot}7H_{2}O$ ($0.02\%$), and $Na_{2}CO_{3}\;(1.0\%$) at pH 10.0. Bacillus mutanolyticus YU5215 was cultured at 30^{circ}C for 72 h to produce the cell wall hydrolase, which was then purified by acetone precipitation and CM-agarose column chromatography. The molecular weight of the lytic enzyme was determined as 22,700 Da by SDS-PAGE. When the cell wall peptidoglycan of Streptococcus mutans was digested with the lytic enzyme, no increase in the reducing sugars was observed, while the free amino acids increased, indicating that the lytic enzyme had an endopeptidase-like property. The amino terminus of the cell wall peptidoglycan digested by the lytic enzyme was determined as a glutamic acid, while the lytic site of the lytic enzyme in the Streptococcus mutans peptidoglycan was identified as the peptide linkage of L-Ala and D-Glu.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.191-195
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• 2010

Oleanolic acid is a natural triterpenoid that exists widely in foods and some medicinal herbs. The purpose of this study was to determine the antimicrobial activity of oleanolic acid against Streptococcus mutans strains isolated from a Korean population. Antimicrobial activity against these bacteria was evaluated by minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and time kill curves. The tolerance of human gingival fibroblasts and human periodontal ligaments to oleanolic acid was tested using a methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay. The $MIC_{90}$ value of oleanolic acid for both S. mutans and S. sobrinus isolated from Koreans was 8 ${\mu}g/ml$. Oleanolic acid showed bactericidal effects against S. mutans ATCC $25175^T$ and S. sobrinus ATCC $33478^T$ at $1\;{\times}\;MIC$ ($8{\mu}g/ml$) and had no cytotoxic effects against KB cells at this dose. The results suggest that oleanolic acid could be useful in the future development of oral hygiene products for the prevention of dental caries.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.177-184
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• 2010

In our present study, we investigated the effects of continentalic acid on Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) biofilm. Methanol extract of Aralia continentalis (A. continentalis) was suspended in water and sequentially partitioned with CHCl3, ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and n-butanol (n-BuOH). The CHCl3 fraction showed the highest activity and an antibacterial compound against S. mutans was isolated from this preparation through various chromatography methods by bioassay guided fractionation. MS, $^1H-NMR$ and $^{13}C-NMR$ analysis showed that the active principle was continentalic acid which was confirmed to show significant inhibitory effects against S. mutans biofilm. These results may provide some scientific rationale for the traditional use these extracts for the treatment of dental diseases.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.86-95
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• 2019

The modern era of microbial genome analysis began in earnest in the 2000s with the generalization of metagenomics and gene sequencing techniques. Studying complex microbial community such as oral cavity and colon by a pure culture is considerably ineffective in terms of cost and time. Therefore, various techniques for genomic analysis have been developed to overcome the limitation of the culture method and to explore microbial communities existing in the natural environment at the gene level. Among these, DNA fingerprinting analysis and microarray chip have been used extensively; however, the most recent method of analysis is metagenomics. The study summarily examined the overview of metagenomics analysis techniques, as well as domestic and foreign studies on disease genomics and cluster analysis related to oral metagenome. The composition of oral bacteria also varies across different individuals, and it would become possible to analyze what change occurs in the human body depending on the activity of bacteria living in the oral cavity and what causality it has with diseases. Identification, isolation, metabolism, and presence of functional genes of microorganisms are being identified for correlation analysis based on oral microbial genome sequencing. For precise diagnosis and treatment of diseases based on microbiome, greater effort is needed for finding not only the causative microorganisms, but also indicators at gene level. Up to now, oral microbial studies have mostly involved metagenomics, but if metatranscriptomic, metaproteomic, and metabolomic approaches can be taken together for assessment of microbial genes and proteins that are expressed under specific conditions, then doing so can be more helpful for gaining comprehensive understanding.