Folklore therapeutic indigenous plants in periodontal disorders in India (review, experimental and clinical approach)

Though a number of plants and their parts are used for dental ailments among population in rural and urban areas of developing countries, in India however, the most common house-hold, road-side plants are mango (Mangifera indica), neem (Azadirachta indica; Melia azadirachta), ocimum (Ocimum basilicum), tea-dust (Camellia sinensis) and uncommonly murayya, i.e., currey leaf (Murayya koenigi) [Chopra et al. 1958, Kirtikar and Basu 1935, Nadakarni 1954, Satyavati 1984]. The leaves of these plants are folded and brushed (massage with teadust) against the teeth. Therefore, the present study is restricted only to the fleshy leaf extracts [Jindal et al. 1975] (except tea) of these plants inspite of certain limitations in the methodology and arbitrations in the microbial identification and isolation in the light of recent advances in folk dentistry. The investigation was carried out in two parts: 1) Experimental study: The efficacy of various dentifrices (commonly available in the market) and the potentiating effect of the leaf extract (LE) of the aforesaid indigenous plants when amalgamated with the tooth-paste against pathogens, were investigated. Further, the protection afforded by the said plant extracts (PE) over the conventional allopathic medicines on the human plaque cultures and gram negative bacteria from patients were studied. 2) Clinical study: The therapeutic effects of the said PE (individually) on clinical application among severely infected patients were examined.