How Taking CBD Orally Can Benefit Dental Health
Cannabidiol (CBD) is a potent anti-inflammatory compound from marijuana plants.
Unlike its other famous sibling, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), CBD isn’t psychoactive so you don’t have to worry about getting high or intoxicated. And even better, CBD can be used to treat a wide range of conditions and prevent as well as treat inflammation throughout the body. While CBD is already well-known in the skincare and cosmetics industry, it’s also becoming renowned for its dental health benefits.
Current Commercial And Medical Products Are Not Enough
There are thousands of various oral and dental care products out there in the market, designed to treat a myriad of oral health concerns. Many of these products are also designed to simply maintain dental hygiene, and keep plaque away.
The buildup of dental plaque can contribute to numerous dental conditions, which is why it’s so important to maintain dental hygiene with regular brushing and flossing. Dental plaque, when left untreated, can cause severe tooth decay, cavities, and gum disease which can lead to pain and discomfort later on. In worse cases, plaque can turn into tartar, resulting in bad breath and yellow teeth. Oftentimes, when cases of plaque become so severe, this requires medical attention from your dentist. The increase in dentists prescribing opioids to help patients deal with severe dental pain hasn’t gone unnoticed because of the opioid epidemic.
Routine visits to your dentist can also help keep your mouth extra clean from inflammation-causing bacteria, but many consumers boost their dental health by using antiseptic washes and special toothpaste too.
That said, many dental care products are made with synthetic and toxic ingredients which we don’t want to be consuming. And many of these ingredients are simply not effective enough, either. Cannabis-based products can also help treat dental pain without the addictive qualities and side effects of opioids. CBD toothpaste is available online in many states as well.
Studies On Benefits Of Oral CBD On The Rise
The number of studies focusing on the benefits of cannabis for oral and dental benefits is growing, too.
In a recent study conducted by researchers from Rutgers, investigators analyzed the effects of CBD on a population of 61 patients with extreme cases of dental plaque. The CBD, administered in the form of Epidiolex, was given in various doses, either 10 or 20mg. Others were given a placebo. The researchers used a visual scale to determine the pain levels of each participant before and after the treatment. They found that CBD could be just as effective as opioid painkillers for treating acute dental pain.
“Both CBD groups resulted in significant VAS pain reduction compared to their baseline and the placebo group, with a maximum median VAS pain reduction of 73 percent from baseline pain and the 180-min time point,” reported the researchers.
“The first line of defense for dental pain has always been anti-inflammatory medications like acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), or naproxen (Aleve), but many patients can’t take such medications or can’t get sufficient relief from them, so dentists have traditionally been among the largest prescribers of opioid medications, either alone or in combination with these other medications,” explained Vanessa Chrepa, lead study author and an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine.
“This randomized trial provides the first clinical evidence that oral CBD can be an effective and safe analgesic for dental pain… This novel study can catalyze the use of CBD as an alternative analgesic to opioids for acute inflammatory pain conditions, which could ultimately help to address the opioid epidemic,” they concluded.
The study also yielded another key finding, which was that CBD increased bite force among the participants who were given CBD. This suggests that CBD has the potential to improve tooth functionality, which means that it may help patients who are suffering from such extreme dental pain that it impacts their chewing mechanisms.
“There are more things to study with follow-up research,” said Chrepa. “Can CBD be used to manage postoperative pain for patients who have undergone tooth extraction or root canal? Can we get even better pain relief by combining it with other agents like Tylenol?”
In another study from 2020, researchers in Belgium compared how cannabinoids compared to oral care products when it came to decreasing bacterial populations in plaque. Cannabinoids such as cannabidiol (CBD), cannabigerol, cannabinol, and cannabichromene were pitted against established products including Colgate and Oral-B.
“By evaluating the colony count of the dental bacteria isolated from six groups, it was found that cannabinoids were more effective in reducing the bacterial colony count in dental plaques as compared to the well-established synthetic oral care products such as Oral B and Colgate,” they reported.
“Although commercially available oral care products are considerably effective in maintaining the oral hygiene of the average population, our study found that cannabinoids are substantially effective in reducing the colony count of the bacterial strains of the dental plaque as compared to the well-established synthetic oral care products such as Oral B and Colgate… We believe that our study opens up the possibilities of developing personalized next-generation oral care products based on cannabinoids,” said the researchers.
Conclusion
CBD’s powerful analgesic and inflammatory-fighting properties make it a fantastic and safe alternative to painkillers and other dental products with side effects. It’s easy to see why more dental companies are infusing their products with the benefits of CBD, and with more products these days to choose from, it’s simpler than ever to integrate CBD into your lifestyle.
CANNABIS-INFUSED TOOTHPASTE, READ ON...
