Healthy environment of the oral cavity reflects the health of the oral tissues and teeth. Good oral health and healthy teeth results in overall health and well being of our body. Apart from the impact on nutritional status, poor oral health can adversely affect speech and self-esteem and may lead to different oral diseases.
The use of herbs and plants for cleaning teeth and treating different oral diseases has been practiced in India since time immemorial. Different population of India uses the traditional toothbrush or chewing stick, known as datun. Pencil-sized sticks are fashioned from certain plant-parts and end parts of the plants are chewed until it looks like a brush. The brush-end is used to clean teeth in similar way like the use of a toothbrush. Studies done on different parts of plants reported to have antibacterial property. Most of the oral diseases are due to bacterial infections and it has been well documented that medicinal plants possess significant antibacterial activity against various microorganisms. This paper reviewed the finding relating to the studies of few commonly used plants.