efficacy of herbal medicine on gingival and periodontal diseases: a review

The most common etiology of gingivitis is accumulation of bacterial plaque. The complete removal of microbial plaques by mechanical procedures is not possible in some situations, for example the aged and disabled patients, might not be capable of removing the bacterial plaques properly. And also chemical mouthwashes have some adverse effects. Therefore, finding a new treatment approach would be helpful. Global focus on the use of herbal medicine in the treatment of different health conditions has been rising. Present study aimed at searching and gathering scientific evidence of medicinal herbs to treat gingivitis and periodontitis.

This article is a review of an electronic search of the literature which was conducted mostly through PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Wiley online library databases. Studies were considered for inclusion if they evaluated medicinal herbs affecting gingival and periodontal inflammation or periodontal pathogens.197 full text article were evaluated and finally, based on the inclusion criteria 22 articles were selected.

There are various medical herbs with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, which can significantly reduce gingival and periodontal inflammation, bleeding on probing (BOP), plaque index (PI), probing depth (PD) and levels of major periodontal pathogens and promote clinical attachment level (CAL) gain.

Introduced herbal products could be an efficient and safe alternative to chemical products.