New Functions of Classical Compounds against Orofacial Inflammatory Lesions

Anti-inflammatory agents have been widely used to ameliorate severe inflammatory symptoms of a number of diseases, and such therapeutics are particularly useful for diseases with intolerable pain without significant mortality. A typical example of this is a disease known as stomatitis; although stomatitis itself is not a life-threatening disease, it severely impairs the individual's quality of life, and thus a standard therapeutic strategy for it has already been established. The topical application of a bioactive agent is quite easy, and a strong anti-inflammatory agent can be used without significant adverse effects. In contrast, natural products with relatively mild bioactivity are used for systemic intervention. However, new aspects of classical drugs used in these established therapeutic methods have recently been discovered, which is expanding the utility of these compounds to other oral diseases such as osteoarthritis of temporomandibular joints (TMJ-OA). In this review article, after summarizing the general concept and pathobiology of stomatitis, its established therapeutics are explained. Thereafter, recent advances in the research into related compounds, which is uncovering new biological functions of the agents used therein, are introduced. Indeed, regenerative therapeutics for TMJ-OA may be developed with the classical compounds currently being used.