10 Phytotherapy- a Need

Oral diseases continue to be a major health problem world-wide.[.There is a long and venerable history of the use of plants to improve dental health, promote oral hygiene and treat various oral diseases . Plant contains various phyto-chemicals such as alkanoids, tannins, essential oils and flavinoids which have pronounced defensive and curative activity. There are various medicinal plants used traditionally to control and cure variety of dental problems by Indian population and worldwide. Therefore proper documentation of this traditional knowledge may be helpful to promote further researches in dental sciences. Our paper highlights the therapeutic properties of various herbs that have been documented in the literature. 1 2 Vishal Mehrotra, , Reader, Department Oral Medicine and Radiology, Rama Dental College Hospital and Research Center, Kanpur Senior Lecturer, Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry Bhabha College of Dental Sciences, Bhopal Senior Lecturer, Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry RKDF Dental College and Research Center, Bhopal 3 4 Kriti Garg Shashank Gaur, Neha Gaur INTRODUCTION: Oral health is integral to general well-being and relates to the quality of life that extends beyond the functions of the craniofacial complex.[1] Oral diseases are major health problems with oral cancer, dental caries and periodontal diseases among the most important global oral health problems.[2,3] There is a wellestablished link between oral diseases and the activities of microbial species that form part of the micro biota of the oral cavity.[3] The global need for alternative prevention and treatment options and products for oral diseases that are safe, effective and economical comes from the rise in disease incidence (particularly in developing countries), increased resistance by pathogenic bacteria to currently used antibiotics and chemo-therapeutics, opportunistic infections in immunecompromised individuals and financial considerations in developing countries.[2,4] Moreover, allopathic medicine is too expensive and capital intensive for a developing country like India and has only limited success in the prevention and in the treatment of a variety of oral diseases. Hence, the search for alternative products continues and plant extracts used in traditional medicine are considered as good alternatives to western medicine.[5] The key issue of phytotherapy is the use of 'healing plants' features in the treatment of various diseases. Modern treatment by means of plant drugs is proper use of plant extracts, as well as its combination with other chemotherapeutic agents. Phytotherapy uses complexes of compounds included in plants or substances isolated from plants, which are homogenous compounds of a particular chemical structure.[6,7] Development of chemical and biological science in last century leaded to development of scientific background of the use of herbs. [8] Plants are the source of many valuable medicines consisting of complex or simple compounds which sometimes cannot be PHYTOTHERAPYA NEED TO BE REVITALIZED FOR TREATMENT OF ORAL DISEASES.