Table 3.

Overview of the names and concentrations of the medicinal herbs, bacterial characteristics of oral biofilms, treatment duration, and major outcomes of studies on herbal interventions on ex vivo formed multispecies oral biofilms.

Authors	Year	Name of medicinal herb/concentration	Oral biofilm microorganisms	Treatment duration	Main results
Alviano et al., 2008	2008	Aqueous extracts from Cocos nucifera (husk fiber, coco-cravo), Ziziphus joazeiro (innerbark, juazeiro), Caesalpinia pyramidalis (leaves, catingueira), and alcoholic extract from Aristolochia cymbifera (stem, milhomen)/16 mg/ml	Unstimulated human whole mixed saliva	Treatment for 30 min, incubation under anaerobic conditions for 48 h	- The alcoholic extract of A. cymbifera (94.2%) and the aqueous extracts of C. pyramidalis (72.8%) and C. nucifera (64.1%) reduced the viable count of adherent bacteria - The activity of the free radical 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH) was mostly affected by the aqueous extracts from C. nucifera and C. pyramidalis
Antonio et al., 2011	2011	Aqueous coffee extract from Coffea canephora/50 μg/ml	Unstimulated human whole mixed saliva	Treatments of 1 min each, every 24 h over 7 days	- No significant differences in pH values after treatment with the extract - C. canephora aqueous extract induced a 4-log decrease in CFU of S. mutans after 3 h treatment
Antonio et al., 2012	2012	Unsweetened and sweetened aqueous coffee extracts from Coffea canephora/20 mg/ml	Unstimulated human whole mixed saliva	Treatment for 30 min, incubation under anaerobic conditions for 48 h	- Coffea canephora extract extract reduced CFU values in ex vivo oral biofilms by 15%. - Sucrose concentrations from 5% up to 20% inhibited growth of biofilm bacteria
Meckelburg et al., 2014	2014	Aqueous coffee extract from Coffea canephora/50 μg/ml	Unstimulated human whole mixed saliva	Treatments of 1 min each, every 24 h over 7 days	- Treatment with coffee extract resulted in an increase in calcium concentration after 4 and 7 days - Treatment with coffee extract induced mineral loss from the tooth surfaces up to 30 μm in depth