Volume : III, Issue : XI, November - 2014

Neem Toothpaste: A Review of The Literature

Dr. Supreet Grover, Dr. Ramya Shenoy

Abstract :

Ayurveda has been used in medicine for decades and has emerged as a perfect source for novel therapeutic agents especially in oral diseases such as periodontal diseases.Periodontitis is characterized by inflammation and destruction of supporting tissues of the teeth. One of the herbal agents Azadirachtaindicaalso known as neem is being used in India and Indian subcontinent for thousands of years as a promising tool for maintaining healthy periodontium because of its chemopreventive action.Neem leaves, barks or twigs have been tried in treatment of gingivitis and periodontitis as a part of various toothpastes such as neem active and dabur herbal and proven to be successful.But still, its use of treatment for periodontitis is not very clear and as a result this study was commissioned to provide a comprehensive systematic review of the efficacy of neem toothpaste as an antimicrobial agent.We have systematically reviewed for articles with toothpastes containing neem. Electronic databases (Cochrane central register of controlled trials, MEDLINE, PUBMED, ENBASE) were screened for studies from March and April 2014.Cross referencing was done to review further articles. The search was limited to English language. Neither the author nor journals were blinded to reviewers. Gray literature was screened systematically. Review process was done by 2 reviewers. If data were missing or any methodological issues were to be addressed the study author contacted via email and this information was added to data extraction.We found 24 articles where 21 are related to neem used in various form other than dentifrice. A total of four articles including an invitro study, one cross sectional study and two randomized controlled trials were evaluated. out of two randomized controlled trials, one randomized controlled trial had toothpaste containing exclusively neem as a primary ingredient.There is a growing clinical evidence supporting the herbal components in toothpaste, but more randomized controlled trials are required to support this. To conclude neem containing toothpastes proven have beneficial for teeth and gums but there is lack of scientific evidence. Further systematic studies are required on this aspect.

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Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijsr  

Cite This Article:

Dr.Supreet Grover, DrRamyaShenoy Neem Toothpaste: A Review of The Literature International Journal of Scientific Research, Vol : 3, Issue : 11 November 2014

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