TITLE:
Effect of Morinda citrifolia L. fruit juice on gingivitis/periodontitis
AUTHORS:
Jonas Glang, Wolfgang Falk, Johannes Westendorf
KEYWORDS:
Gingivitis; Periodontitis; Morinda citrifolia L.; Noni; Bacterial Inflammation; Interleukin-1
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Research in Inflammation,
Vol.2 No.2,
May
9,
2013
ABSTRACT: The majority of the world’s population suffers
from gingivitis/periodontitis. This inflammatory process is caused by several
bacterial species inside the dental plaque. In vivo and in vitro experiments were set up. The patients of the in vivo group were divided
into a noni and a control group. Both groups contained patients that suffered from gingivitis/periodontitis who were introduced to practice standardized,
good oral hygiene. The patients in the noni group additionally used noni juice
for mouth wash two times a day. The Papillae-Bleeding-Index (PBI) was evaluated
comparing the status of inflammation in both groups. Bacterial probes were
isolated from the patient’s gingival pouches for species identification and to
carry out in vitro experiments for possible antimicrobial effects of noni
juice. The Papillae-Bleeding-Index (PBI) in the noni group has “highly
significantly” improved from an average of 2.25 at the beginning of the
observation period (t0) to 1.01 after four weeks of noni treatment
(t1), compared to a change from 2.11 at t0 to 1.95 at t1 inthe control group. A
comparison of the differences of the PBI-values (t0-t1)
between the noni and the control group was highly significant using a t-test
on a level of p = 0.01. Only small inhibition zones were observed in the agar
diffusion test on agar plates coated with aerobic, anaerobic and Candida cultures isolated from the patients gingival pouches after treatment with
original or neutralized noni juice in different concentrations. Weak
bacteriostatic effects occurred in the agar dilution experiments with noni
juice in higher concentrations (native and neutralized noni juice). The present
investigation has shown that the combination of good oral hygiene and the
administration of noni juice was a promising treatment for gingivitis and
periodontitis. The additional treatment with noni juice significantly mitigated
the gingival inflammation.