Natural Oral Care in Dental Therapy

The book focuses on the use of natural oral care in dentistry and explores all the measures to utilize the natural products obtained from plants, animals and mineral drugs. For hundreds of years the existence and utility of natural products have bolstered the idea that natural products are still the choice for therapy. Their structural diversity and exclusive pharmacological actions differentiate them from drugs of synthetic origin. Not only are they used in traditional ways but also in modern medicine for treating life-threatening diseases. The discovery and design of new drugs from natural products always remain a challenging task. Still, they remain a choice due to their safety profile and negligible side effects. This book focuses on perspectives of natural medicine in various dental diseases. Oral diseases continue to be a major health problem worldwide. Oral health is integral to general well-being and relates to the quality of life that extends beyond the functions of the craniofacial complex. Standard Western medicine has had only limited success in the prevention of periodontal disease and treatment of a variety of oral diseases. The dentist needs to be more informed regarding the use, safety, and effectiveness of the various traditional medicines and over-the-counter products. For example, herbal extracts have been used in dentistry for reducing inflammation, as antimicrobial plaque agents, for preventing the release of histamine and as antiseptics, antioxidants, antimicrobials, antifungals, antibacterials, antivirals, and analgesics. They also aid in healing and are effective in controlling microbial plaque in gingivitis and periodontitis, thereby improving immunity. The 26 chapters of this book cover the chemistry, clinical and preclinical panorama of natural products used in oral care and is divided into 4 parts: Natural Oral Care; Studies of Plants Used in Dental Disease; Applications of Natural Product in Oral Care; Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology. Audience This important new volume will be valuable to dentists, oral hygienists, dental surgeons, orthodontists, periodontists, endodontists, prosthodontists, cosmetic surgeons, maxillofacial surgeons, pharmacognosy experts, and natural product formulation scientists alike, either as a textbook or as a reference. It is a must-have for any libraries in dentistry and the herbal industry. The book can be used in DDS and BDS dentistry schools.