Use of Herbal Medicines and Periodontal Health

Objective: The use of herbal products has increased dramatically within the last decade. Although there are several case reports related to possible side effects of these medicines, traditional medical history records do not include herbal and other natural products. Most of the physicians/ dentists are not aware of the treatment unless there is a complication. The present study aims to determine the prevalence and type of both systemic and topical herbal supplement usage at a training center.

Methods: 150 adult patients (79 female, 71 male) from the College of Dentistry patient population at The Ohio State University were included into this study. Patient recruitment was performed during initial periodontal examination. A questionnaire related to types of herbal medicines and frequency and rationale for the usage was completed. Periodontal diagnosis and, plaque and bleeding scores were recorded. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine statistically significant associations between the use of herbal medicine and periodontal diagnosis.

Results: Fifty one percent of the cases were using some type of herbal medicine and 59% of these cases were also taken prescribed medicine for various health problems. Only 7 patients (9%) reported a physician's recommendation for herbal medicine. Garlic, Glucosamine, Chondroitin and Aloe were among the mostly reported herbal medicines with approximately 20% of the study population using at least one of them. Herbal medicines were mostly taken as pill or capsule (90% of the users). There was no statistically significant correlation between the use of herbal medicine and periodontal health status.

Conclusion: Within the limits of this study, it appears that a large portion of the patient population who seek dental treatment may be taken herbal medicines alone or in conjunction with prescribed medications. Further studies are necessary to determine the possible effects of these medicines on oral health and dental treatment outcome.