Evaluation of dentifrices of complementary and alternative medicinal systems on plaque formation and gingivitis : a randomized controlled clinical trial

Bio-film formation is a natural process in the oral environment, but needs to be controlled through regular brushing in order to prevent the development of caries and periodontal diseases. A wide variety of dentifrices of complementary and alternative medicinal systems are available in the market which claims superior plaque control. A randomized controlled double-blinded concurrent parallel clinical trial was conducted with the objective to evaluate and compare the clinical effectiveness of three commercially available dentifrices of complementary and alternative medicine systems with that of a placebo dentifrice on Gingival Index (GI) and Plaque Index (PI) scores after 15, 30, 45 and 60 days of usage among 80 adults aged 35-44 years. The mean GI scores reduced by 29.19 %, 22.28 %, 32.43 % and 10.33 % in the herbal dentifrice, homeopathic dentifrice, conventional dentifrice, and placebo dentifrice groups by the end of the study period. Highest reduction of 33.5% and 34.87 % in PI scores were seen in the herbal and conventional dentifrice. This reduction was statistically significant (p=0.001). The herbal dentifrice tested in the present study has demonstrated anti-gingivitis and anti-plaque efficiency equivocal to the conventional dentifrice. The homeopathic dentifrice was as good as a placebo

Psychosomatic disorders: An overview for oral physician

A psychosomatic disorder involves both the body and mind. These diseases have physical symptoms originating from mental or emotional causes. Most common causes are stress, anxiety, and depression. When these psychological entities are not perceived properly, it may result in somatic disease due to conversion hysteria. Even the oral and paraoral structures show manifestations of these psychosomatic disorders. The present review has been done from text books and articles relevant to psychosomatic disorders. Relevant articles have been selected and filtered from databases using MeSH terms psychosomatic diseases, oral mucosal diseases, stress, etc., with boolean operators from 1990 till date. This review highlights the important aspects of the psychosomatic diseases affecting oral cavity