Abstract
Oral mucosal lesions have many etiologies, including viral or bacterial infections, local trauma or irritation, systemic disorders, and even excessive alcohol and tobacco consumption. Folk knowledge on medicinal plants and phytochemicals in the treatment of oral mucosal lesions has gained special attention among the scientific community. Thus, this review aims to provide a brief overview on the traditional knowledge of plants in the treatment of oral mucosal lesions. This review was carried out consulting reports between 2008 and 2018 of PubMed (Medline), Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Database, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. The chosen keywords were plant, phytochemical, oral mucosa, leukoplakia, oral lichen planus and oral health. A special emphasis was given to certain plants (e.g., chamomile, Aloe vera, green tea, and coffea) and plant-derived bioactives (e.g., curcumin, lycopene) with anti-oral mucosal lesion activity. Finally, preclinical (in vitro and in vivo) and clinical studies examining both the safety and efficacy of medicinal plants and their derived phytochemicals were also carefully addressed.
Highlights
Oral mucosal lesions (OML) have been defined as any abnormal change in oral mucosa surface, appearing as pigmented, ulcerative, red and white features or any swelling or developmental defect variants [1]
This review brings knowledge on the traditional use of medicinal plants, its corresponding extracts, and even phytochemicals, in the treatment of OML, and attempts to be useful to scholars, scientists and health professionals working on drug discovery to develop effective anti-OML drugs
Numerous reports have assessed the efficacy of plant-derived bioactive molecules in the treatment of OML, commonly used in traditional Chinese, Ayurveda, Indian and Persian Medicine
Summary
Oral mucosal lesions (OML) have been defined as any abnormal change in oral mucosa surface, appearing as pigmented, ulcerative, red and white features or any swelling or developmental defect variants [1]. Oral mucosal lesions have many predisposing factors, including infection (viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi), thermal and/or physical, immune system deficiencies, neoplasia, systemic disease, trauma, as well as aging and chronic behaviors (e.g., betel nut, alcohol, and tobacco use) [2]. Oral mucosa is a highly responsive, diversified and dynamic environment that, highly accessible, present true challenges for oral drug delivery [7]. Since steroids and other drugs that have been commonly used to treat different oral diseases present several side effects, scientists are searching for other methods with equivalent potency and little or no side effects [8]
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