The Role of Natural Compounds in Optimizing Contemporary Dental Treatment—Current Status and Future Trends

• Published in: Journal of Functional Biomaterials
• Main Authors: Dana Gabriela Budala, Maria-Alexandra Martu, George-Alexandru Maftei, Diana Antonela Diaconu-Popa, Vlad Danila, Ionut Luchian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2023-05-01
• Subjects: natural products; herbal dental therapy; alternative medicine
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4983/14/5/273

For a long period of time, natural remedies were the only ailment available for a multitude of diseases, and they have proven effective even after the emergence of modern medicine. Due to their extremely high prevalence, oral and dental disorders and anomalies are recognized as major public health concerns. Herbal medicine is the practice of using plants with therapeutic characteristics for the purpose of disease prevention and treatment. Herbal agents have made a significant entry into oral care products in recent years, complementing traditional treatment procedures due to their intriguing physicochemical and therapeutic properties. There has been a resurgence of interest in natural products because of recent updates, technological advancements, and unmet expectations from current strategies. Approximately eighty percent of the world’s population uses natural remedies, especially in poorer nations. When conventional treatments have failed, it may make sense to use natural drugs for the treatment of pathologic oral dental disorders, as they are readily available, inexpensive, and have few negative effects. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the benefits and applications of natural biomaterials in dentistry, to gather relevant information from the medical literature with an eye toward its practical applicability, and make suggestions for the directions for future study.