Propolis as Natural Product in the Oral Cavity Bacterial Infections Treatment: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The up-to-date records show that approximately 10% of people worldwide suffer from periodontal diseases and about 50% of adults have some sort of moderate oral cavity disease. Therefore, oral cavity diseases represent the group of the most common chronic inflammatory diseases in the world. Thus, novel, natural, safe, and effective methods of treatment need to be found. In this study, a systematic search was performed in PubMed and Google Scholar up to March 2022 to select research evaluating the activity of propolis against bacteria responsible for oral cavity diseases. Peer-reviewed journals in English containing information about the in vitro and in vivo studies were included in our research. We excluded the records without access, written in another language than English, thesis or book chapters, and review papers, and we rejected the texts when the authors did not write about the antibacterial activity. Collected results of the inhibition zone as well as average MIC and MBC values indicated that propolis exhibits antimicrobial activity against the strains of bacteria which cause, e.g., periodontitis, gingivitis, caries, subgingival plaque, supragingival plaque, recurrent aphthous ulcers (RAS), and pharyngitis. However, before propolis can be commonly used, more research is needed to fully understand its composition and antibacterial mechanism of action.