Ethnobotanical identification of medicinal plants effective on toothache in Shiraz, south Iran

Abstract

Pain is an unpleasant sensory experience which is developed by acute or potential tissue damage. Currently, some drugs such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen, opioids such as morphine, meperidine, methadone, tramadol, buprenorphine, butorphanol, and nalbuphine as well as other drugs including tricyclic antidepressants and corticosteroids are being used to control pain. These drugs could cause side effects. Given the high prevalence of toothache and that a variety of plants are used to relieve toothache in Iranian traditional medicine, this study was conducted to document the data of medicinal plants effective on relief of toothache in Shiraz. In this study, the data on traditional treatments were gathered from the groceries across Shiraz between 23 July, 2015 and 23 October, 2015 by pre-developed questionnaires administered to the grocers by researcher. The data obtained from the questionnaires were meticulously tabulated and recorded and analyzed by Excel. Finally 20 plants from 14 families were identified as being used for toothache in Shiraz. Most plants effective on toothache were from Composite family. Aerial parts were (38) were the most frequently used organs and concentrated extract (70) was the most frequent traditional method of use in the studied region. Papaver tennifolium (37.03) obtained the highest percentage of frequency of citation of the toothache-relieving plants in Shiraz. It is necessary to identify the effective substances in the medicinal plants native to Shiraz used to relieve toothache and to study these substances' therapeutic effects.