**4. Concluding remarks**

In the research phase for phytochemicals with activity against *S. mutans*, carried out in the present study, no specific research was carried out for the classes of phytoconstituents. However, surprisingly, all isolated and identified chemical structures (24 compounds) belonged to the class of phenolic compounds, more specifically the class of flavonoids (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24) and isoflavonoid derivatives (1, 10, 11, and 22).

Five phytocompounds evaluated were elected as one of the three best ligands for at least three target proteins, highlighting the following compounds: 11 (erystagallin) (highlighted for 6 targets), 10 (erycristagallin) (highlighted for 5 targets), 1 (methoxyficifonilol) (highlighted for 4 targets), 20 (malvidin-3,5-diglucoside), and 2 (sophoraflavanone G), which provided indications of a possible and desirable multitarget action of these compounds.

Based on these findings, these selected compounds should have theirs *in vitro* and *in vivo* activities evaluated, to validate the efficiency of these compounds in inhibiting the virulence factors of planktonic *S. mutans* and in biofilms. The positive results in these tests will allow the incorporation of these phytoconstituents in toothpaste, mouthwashes, among others, and could be an effective alternative for the control of tooth decay.
