Background: Propolis (bee glue) has been known since ancient times. The healing properties of propolis have long been known, and it was extensively used as a medicine. But in the Middle Ages, the popularity of propolis faded, and its use in mainstream medicine disappeared. Now, in the scientific world propolis has emerged as an active and important material for efficient treatment options for various diseases. In today’s world, people are more inclined towards natural products for curing disease over manmade products. The natural product propolis is a great help, as it is a non-toxic resinous substance which has antimicrobial, anticancer, antifungal, antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties in dentistry, oral health and medicine. Propolis can be used as caries prevention and treatment, as a supragingival plaque, gingivitis and periodontitis medicament, in cavity disinfection solutions, intracanal and root canal medicaments, as dental pulp medicament, and for wound and bone healing. Propolis can be used for oral mycosis treatments and as a potential treatment for oral cancer.
Methodology: A literature search was carried out using online databases such as ‘Google Scholar’, ‘Pubmed’ and ‘Scopus’ during the last 5 years, and a narrative review is carried out.
Results: Propolis is potentially useful in dentistry and oral health management. On the basis of 15 articles reviewed, it is observed that use of propolis in preventive dentistry is 33% followed by 24% in endodontics, 19% in oncology, 14% in periodontics, 9% in dental trauma and orthodontics.
Conclusion: Propolis is rated among few natural remedies, with a wide range of applications in both dentistry and medicine. Propolis and its phenolic and flavonoid constituents have many therapeutic uses in dentistry, oral health, and medicine due to its antibacterial, antiviral antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties which have been demonstrated in various in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo studies, as well as in human clinical trials.