Role of functional foods in periodontal health and disease

Probiotics is a live microbial feed supplement which beneficially affects the host animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance whereas Prebiotics are nondigestible substances (dietary fiber)that exert some biological effect on humans by selective stimulation of growth or bioactivity of beneficial microorganisms either present or therapeutically introduced to the intestine. This review focuses on the use of functional foods as preventive and therapeutic products for oral healthcare. Scientific understanding of functional foods and their potential for preventing and treating periodontal conditions is at its infancy, but moving ahead. Therefore, properly controlled, randomized,long term clinical trials are needed using the most promising strains and also testing various methods of application.