Anti fungal effect of some plant oils against some oral clinical isolates of Candida albicans in Lebanese community

Oils extracted from different medicinal plants (volatile and fixed) were screened for their activity against oral pathogen Candida albicans by agar well diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of oils against Candida albicans done by agar dilution method and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFCs) data obtained by the broth micro dilution method. The results showed that the maximum antifungal activity was demonstrated by pine, tea tree, oreganum, thyme and clary sage oil as compared to nystatin as a control. While clove,eucalyptus ,cinnamon , lemon and lavender oil exhibited moderate inhibitory activity. Cotton ,aniseed and rose oil demonstrated low activity as compared to control. Mustard ,linseed, peppermint, sesame, fennel, caraway, cumin, cactus, castor, blackseed and almond oil did not show any antifungal activity. More over Time-Kill assay shows that Candida albicans will be almost killed after 6 hours of treatment with the promising oils. These results support the plant oils can be used to cure fungal infections and plant oils may have role as pharmaceutical