Abstract Free radicals are risk factors that can lead to certain oral infections. The contributions of antioxidants is necessary to fight effectively against these free radicals, in the oral cavity. Plants being recognized as a source of natural antioxidants, chewing stick still used today in several developing countries can serve as a remedy to fight against these free radicals. Thus, in this study, we studied the antioxidant activity of plants used as a chewing stick in Benin by the DPPH method, both in ethanolic and micellar medium. The results show that the DPPH method in micellar medium is a credible alternative to the conventional method which takes place in ethanolic or methanolic medium. Depending on the concentration of antioxidant present, the percentage inhibition of DPPH increases with the concentration of CTAB to a given value where it begins to fall. The activity also depends on the number of hydroxyl groups provided by the phenolic compounds.
Keywords Antioxidant; Micelle; chewing stick; phenolic compounds.