Cannabidiol, the Journey of Cannabis from a Social Stigma to a Miracle Drug in Dentistry

In recent years, there has been a surge in the awareness regarding the phyto cannabinoid; cannabidiol. Between the time period from 1963 to 2000, only 460 publications can be found in a PubMed search while using cannabidiol as the keyword. The former pales in comparison to the record of 2769 publications found from 2008 to the present time. However, a limited amount of literature is available that discusses the therapeutic potential of cannabidiol, pertaining to the field of dentistry. In 1940, cannabidiol was isolated from cannabis for the first time, its structure being reported much later in 1963. Further research on Cannabis resulted in the declaration that “THC” is the active compound. Subsequent studies were then directed essentially based on the virtual exclusion of cannabidiol and other cannabinoids from cannabis. This was primarily due to the belief that the activity of cannabis was merely psychological activity.

In retrospect, this seems unfortunate as many of the beneficial properties of cannabidiol which might have had a therapeutic benefit were overlooked. In the present review, attention will be focused on the therapeutic potential of Cannabidiol and the impact this may have on dentistry with the supplemental vision of encouraging further studies to reveal any other beneficial properties that may be present.