1. Background

Plants produce chemicals as primary and secondary metabolites which have beneficial long-term health effect and also are used effectively to treat diseases. Specifically, it is the secondary metabolites that exert therapeutic actions in humans. It has been stated that more than 30% of the entire plant species, at one time or another, are used for medicinal purposes necessarily due to the amount and type of secondary metabolite they contain [1]. These drugs of plant origin have saved lives of many residents of developing countries because of their good values in treating many infectious and noninfectious chronic diseases.

In spite of the overwhelming influences and the dependence on modern medicine and tremendous advances in synthetic drugs, large segments of the world population depend on drugs from plants [1]. Population rise, inadequate supply of drugs, prohibitive cost of treatments, side effects of several allopathic drugs, and development of resistance to currently used drugs for infectious diseases have led to increased emphasis on the use of plants as sources of medicines for a wide variety of human ailments [2–5]. According to World Health Organization (WHO), over three-quarters of the world population rely on plants and their extracts for healthcare needs [6].

Poverty, inadequacy of health services, shortage of health workers, and rampant shortage of drugs and equipment in existing health facilities make traditional medicine an important component of healthcare in Africa. Traditional healers were reported as first choice healthcare providers when they faced health problems in Ethiopia due to their efficacy and dissatisfaction with modern medicine [7]. In many of the developing countries, the use of plant drugs is increasing because modern life saving drugs are beyond the reach of their countries although they spend 40–50% of their total wealth on drugs and healthcare. As a part of the strategy to reduce the financial burden on the developing countries, it is obvious that an increased use of plant drugs will be followed in the future [1, 2].

The global need for alternative prevention and treatment options and products for oral diseases that are safe, effective, and economical comes from the rise in disease incidence particularly in developing countries, increased resistance by pathogenic bacteria to currently used antibiotics and chemotherapeutics, opportunistic infections in immune-compromised individuals, and financial considerations in developing countries [4, 5]. For example, bacterial resistance to most (if not all) of the antibiotics commonly used to treat oral infections (penicillin and cephalosporins, erythromycin, tetracycline and derivatives, and metronidazole) has been documented [8]. These drugs also alter oral microbiota and have undesirable side effects such as vomiting, diarrhea, and tooth staining [3]. The herbal products today symbolize safety in contrast to the synthetics that are regarded as unsafe to human and environment.

Traditional Chinese medicines have been used to treat some of these orofacial problems for more than 2000 years [9]. Zheng and colleagues reported that Chinese traditional medicines are effective in treating oral diseases including recurrent aphthous stomatitis, oral lichen planus, leukoplakia, and Sjögren’s syndrome but remarked that most of them lacked standard criteria of posttreatment assessment and laboratory evidence [9]. It has also been reported that traditional Chinese medicine and naturopathic medicine resulted in significantly greater reduction of pain and psychosocial interference in temporomandibular disorders than the state-of-the-art specialty care [10]. Slot Pulsa

Hollist (2004) [11] reported that about 10 different oral/dental conditions are treatable with plants in traditional health practice, namely, toothache/decay, gingivitis, ulcerative gingivitis, angular stomatitis, mouth ulcers, swollen tonsil, oral thrush, tonsillitis, and black tongue. The result of a study in the Tanga Region of Tanzania showed that dental patients are commonly treated by traditional healers and more than half of inhabitants with toothache sought treatment from traditional healers, where they had all been treated with local herbs. This health seeking behavioral pattern was not altered by the establishment of modern emergency oral care in rural health centers and dispensaries did not influence the villagers’ use of the traditional healers [12]. More than half of the Malaysian aborigines (56.8%) used traditional medicine for relief of orofacial pain [13].

There is paucity of literature in traditional therapeutics in the treatment of orofacial diseases in Cameroon. Few studies in Cameroon showed that native herbs are common self-medicament for oral diseases and that traditional healers are involved in tooth extractions [14] and the treatment of other oral diseases like the oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS [15]. It was also documented that Cameroonians use herbs for self-medication for oral health problems [16]. Hence, the objective of this study was to determine the therapeutic methods used by traditional healers to treat oral diseases. Poker Deposit Pulsa

2. Methods

2.1. Study Design

This study set to determine the therapeutic methods used by traditional healers to treat oral diseases was conducted as a cross-sectional study.

2.2. Study Setting

This study was conducted in all the 10 regions of Cameroon. This is a central African country with a population of 21.7 million, without dental school, and has about 220 practicing dentists revealing a low dentist population ratio of about 1 : 10,000.

2.3. Participants

This study included all forms of traditional healers that belong to and participate in the regional activities of their association.

2.4. Instrument

A self-administered questionnaire was used to elicit information from traditional healers. Those traditional healers who were unable to read or write were interviewed and their responses captured. Information elicited was demography of the traditional healers, the local names of the medicinal plants/products used for the management of orofacial problems, and their routes of administration and methods of usage.

2.5. Procedure

Traditional healers assembled by their regional head in the monthly meetings were contacted and the purpose of the research was explained to them. Those that consented were recruited and studied. They were administered the questionnaire. Plants samples were requested from traditional healers who could present life plants. The plant samples and products were collected from the traditional healers either fresh or in dried forms and photographs depicting the habit of plants that could not be harvested were taken. These plants samples were subsequently taken to the Department of Botany at the University of Dschang, Cameroon, for identification by a taxonomist.

2.6. Ethical Concerns

Authorization to conduct this research on traditional healers in all the regions of Cameroon was obtained from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Cameroon and the Senate Research Ethics Committee of the University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa. Written informed consent was obtained from traditional healers who agreed to participate in the study.

2.7. Data Analysis

Data obtained were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 17.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and summarized using descriptive statistics and presented as frequencies and percentages.

3. Results

A total of 200 traditional healers with a mean age of  years from all the provinces (regions) of Cameroon participated in this study. The majority 48 (24.0%) were aged 41–50 years. Males 138 (69.0%) were more than females 62 (31.0%). More than a third 64 (32.0%) had a primary school education, 57 (28.5%) secondary education, 47 (23.5%) a tertiary education, and 32 (16.0%) only informal education. A total of 110 (55.0%) of the participants resided in urban areas. More than half 112 (56.0%) of the traditional healers practice as herbalist, as diviners 28 (14.0%) and both herbalism and divination 60 (30.0%). Fifty-six (28%) of the traditional healers were trained on how to preserve their medications. Seventy-seven (56.6%) participants indicated treating disease inside or outside the mouth but only 9.0% reported being specialist in treating oral diseases only (Table 1). The mean number of patients seen in a week was  with majority of them 49 (25.0%) treating 13–16 patients weekly

Sebanyak 52 tanaman diidentifikasi, 32 di antaranya digunakan dalam pengelolaan masalah mulut dalam bentuk sakit gigi, sakit tenggorokan, sariawan, luka borok, lesi bulosa, abses, gigi rusak, sensitivitas dentin, sariawan, karies gigi, gingivitis, sinusitis, radang amandel, mulut kering, sifilis oral, dan kanker mulut (Tabel 3 ), 16 digunakan untuk penyakit mulut spesifik (Tabel 4 ), dan empat sisanya digunakan untuk pencabutan gigi (Tabel 5 ). Akar, daun, dan kulit kayu adalah bagian paling umum dari tanaman yang diidentifikasi digunakan untuk pengobatan masalah mulut (Tabel 6 ). Mineral yang digunakan sebagai tambahan adalah kalsium karbonat, tawas, larutan bikarbonat, dan sulfur putih dan kuning