Microbial biodiversity of natural toothbrushes in Mali

Abstract Different oral hygiene practices are used to overcome endemic diseases such as dental caries and oral infections. In Mali (Africa) for eliminating bacterial biofilm, natural plant-based toothbrushes are used. The repertoire of microorganisms associated with natural toothbrushes is unknown. The aim of our study is to study microbial flora in particular the methanogenic archaea associated with natural toothbrushes recently recognized as responsible for periodontitis and periimplantitis. We investigated the methanogens and bacteria associated with fifteen different plant natural toothbrushes collected in Bamako local market (Mali). Microbiological investigations consisted in culturing the bacteria on agar plates and searching archaea using molecular techniques. No archaea were demonstrated by molecular biology but fifty bacterial species including 33 aero-anaerobic and 17 aerobic species were isolated from natural toothbrushes. We isolated Pseudomonas sp., Staphylococcus sp. and Klebsiella pneumoniae acknowledged as opportunistic human pathogens. This study has highlighted the likely impact of the use of natural toothbrushes in the spread of potentially pathogenic bacteria in the human oral cavity.