Background Dental caries is the most prevalent polymicrobial oral infectious disease tormenting individuals' healthy lifestyles and presents a significant public health problem. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the antibacterial properties of different concentrations of bamboo shoot ethanol extract with chlorhexidine mouth rinse on isolates of salivary Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) and Lactobacillus acidophilus (L. acidophilus). Materials and methods Non -stimulated salivary samples from 30 young adults were treated ex vivo with bamboo shoot ethanolic extract at concentrations of 30 ng/ml, 40 ng/ml, 50 ng/ml, and 60 ng/ml. The colony -forming units were quantified by measuring the number of viable bacterial cells. Inhibition zones were evaluated using the agar diffusion method. One-way ANOVA and post -hoc test were used to analyze the significant difference between variables using SPSS version 22.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results The mean zone of inhibition with bamboo shoot ethanolic extract against salivary S. mutans (23.00 +/- 0.816) and L. acidophilus (22.00 +/- 0.816) total counts was closest to the control chlorhexidine (S. mutans = 22.00 +/- 0.876 and L. acidophilus = 21.10 +/- 0.876). A greater activity against S. mutans and L. acidophilus is seen in the zone of inhibition of the 60 ng/ml experimental concentration of bamboo shoot ethanolic extract, with a significant difference in the disc diffusion assay. Conclusion The treatment with bamboo shoot extract was equivalent effective in the mentioned bacterial species. Clinical relevance It can be assured that preventive measures like mouth rinse and dentifrices compromising bamboo shoots, a potential dental biomaterial, would be optimistic agents for caries control, including the cariostatic effect.