PREPARATION AND COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF POLY-HERBAL TOOTHPASTE FORMULATIONS USING CLOVE OIL AND PONGAMIA PINNATA SEED EXTRACT

The present study deals with the formulation and evaluation of a polyherbal toothpaste with more emphasis on minimizing the use of synthetic additives. Increasing concern about the toxicities related to the ingredients like parabens, sodium lauryl sulfate, saccharin, and fluoride has enhanced interest in the herbal oral care products as safer alternatives to the conventional types.[31-33] Herbal toothpastes have been found to maintain oral hygiene apart from their therapeutic benefits resulting from the bactericidal and anti-inflammatory properties of medicinal herbs.[3,10,21,23] The selected herbal seed extract was employed as an active ingredient in formulation based on the reportedly antimicrobial and analgesic activities attributed to bioactive compounds such as karanjin and pongamol, besides the compound eugenol present in clove oil.[22,27,35,36] Three formulations (F1, F2, and F3) were prepared by changing the concentration of microcrystalline cellulose and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose while keeping all other excipients constant. Herbal seed extract was prepared using 70% ethanolic extraction and incorporated into the toothpaste base along with suitable excipients.[5,6,12] Two methods for the formulation were assessed, and it was found that formulation method 1 provided more stable and standardized preparations of toothpaste. Physicochemical and microbiological assessments evidenced that formulation F1 was more stable and presented antimicrobial activities significantly higher than the other formulations and the commercially available herbal toothpaste products.[6,9,13,23,31] NOVELTY OF WORK: This paper highlights the design and development of a polyherbal toothpaste formulation using Pongamia pinnata seed extract and clove oil, which exhibit synergistic antibacterial properties with less usage of synthetic chemicals.[22,27,36] Contrary to most previous reports that exclusively emphasized individual herbal substances in toothpaste formulation, this paper comprehensively endeavors to maximize herbal formulation in terms of natural polymer concentrations, specifically sodium carboxy-methyl cellulose (SCMC) and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC).[1,4,7,14] The results showed an effective formulation with bactericidal potency compatible with and better than that in most herbal and fluoride-based toothpaste reported in previous literature.[3,9,13,23,31] The proposed formulation also provides a practically productive, biological, and safe method in making a beneficial herbal preparation for oral health.[6,12,25,34]