An Overview of Phytotherapy in Oral Diseases

A large number of common household edible ingredients and their purified constituents have shown beneficial therapeutic potential. Most of them have also been used as alternative medicine from time immemorial. All of these have been known to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and even antitumor properties. Therefore, these herbal remedies are a promising source of purified active ingredients that would have clinical applications without side effects as compared to allopathic medicines. Our paper highlights the less known therapeutic properties of well known household ingredients that have been documented in literature. Future research should be directed at optimizing the clinical applications of these products with the background of potential therapeutic benefits.