Probiotics: Current applications in oral health care

The application of 'health-promoting' bacteria for therapeutic purposes is one of the strongest emerging fields. In medicine, probiotics are used mainly in support therapy for gastro-intestinal diseases. In recent years, probiotics have been used as a treatment to promote oral health. Better knowledge of the ecology and microbiology of the oral cavity has laid to a change in understanding of the oral disease process. Very encouraging studies have come up in the recent past exploring probiotics in the fields of caries, periodontal diseases and few other areas and the results tend to suggest beneficial effects of probiotics on oral health and on the whole body in general. Extensive research to create a probiotic product intended to maintain dental and periodontal health is needed. This article reviews the role of probiotics in oral health.