medicines Review Kampo Therapies and the Use of Herbal Medicines in the Dentistry in Japan Shuji Watanabe 1,2, Toshizo Toyama 1, Takenori Sato 1, Mitsuo Suzuki 1,3, Akira Morozumi 4, Hiroshi Sakagami 5 and Nobushiro Hamada 1,* 1 Division of Microbiology, Department of Oral Science, Kanagawa Dental University, 82 Inaoka-cho, Yokosuka 238-8580, Japan;
[email protected] (S.W.);
[email protected] (T.T.);
[email protected] (T.S.);
[email protected] (M.S.) 2 Odoriba Medical Center, Totsuka Green Dental Clinic, 1-10-46 Gumizawa, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama 245-0061, Japan 3 Dental Design Clinic, 3-7-10 Kita-aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0061, Japan 4 Morozumi Dental Clinic, 1-3-1 Miyamaedaira, Miyamae-ku, Kawasaki 216-0006, Japan;
[email protected] 5 Meikai University Research Institute of Odontology (M-RIO), 1-1 Keyakidai, Sakado, Saitama 350-0283, Japan;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel./Fax: +81-46-822-8867 Received: 13 February 2019; Accepted: 25 February 2019; Published: 28 February 2019 Abstract: Dental caries and periodontal disease are two major diseases in the dentistry. As the society is aging, their pathological meaning has been changing. An increasing number of patients are displaying symptoms of systemic disease and so we need to pay more attention to immunologic aggression in our medical treatment. For this reason, we focused on natural products. Kampo consists of natural herbs—roots and barks—and has more than 3000 years of history. It was originated in China as traditional medicine and introduced to Japan.