Green Tea Catechins: Role in Oral Health and Disease. An Overview Nagpal Monika1, Sood Shaveta2,* 1Assistant Professor, Department of Conservative and Endodontics, Dr. H.S. Judge Institute of Dental Sciences & Hospital, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Panjab, India 2Senior Assistant Professor, Department of Periodontology, Dr. H.S. Judge Institute of Dental Sciences & Hospital, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Punjab, India *Address for correspondence: Shaveta Sood Email id: drshavetasood@yahoo.com
Online published on 22 March, 2016. Abstract Tea is being consumed since ages mainly by Asian population. The ongoing research in recent years have well established the role of tea as an important agent providing various systemic and oral health benefits besides being consumed as popular beverage. It exists mainly in three forms namely green, oolong and black, which differ from each other in their method of processing. Green tea is considered the most effective in this regard because of large amount of polyphenols present in it mainly in the form of catechins. The systemic health benefits include prevention of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic, anti-bacterial, antiangiogenic, anti-oxidative, anti-viral, neuroprotective and cholesterol lowering effects. Green tea polyphenols do have a significant role in pathogenesis of several oral diseases like tooth decay, oral cancer, periodontal diseases and so on. This article will emphasise the beneficial effects of green tea particularly in oral health with a word of caution against its excessive use. Top Keywords Green tea, Catechins, Epigallocatechin gallate, Polyphenols, Anti-oxidative, Antiinflammatory, Dental Caries. Top |