The Use of Kampo Medicine in Dentistry and Oral Surgery.

Recently, the administration of traditional Chinese herbal medicines (Kampo medicine) has increased especially, in the form of Kampo extrast granules, as a medical treatment in dentistry and oral surgery. We surveyed the use of Kampo medicine in our hospital from April 1995 to March 1996. A total of 53, 884 prescriptions were issued during this period, including 3, 373 prescriptions (6.26%) for Kampo medicine. The following Kampo medicines were the most frequently prescribed: Bakumondo-to (14.7%), Juzentaiho-to (14.6%), Kami-shoyosan (10.2%), and Sho-saiko-to (9.9%). These accounted for almost half of all the Kampo medicine used in our hospital. The main indications for Kampo medicine were due to the following chronic diseases; glossodynia (22.1%), xerostomia (19.4%), oral cancer (16.8%), and atypical facial pain (16.2%) etc. These indications mainly determined by the Department of Oral Surgery and the Department of Anesthesiology. Regarding patient age, the largest group consisted of patients in their seventies (31%), almost 60% of all patients prescribed Kampo medicine were above 60 years old. The ratio among men and women was 3 to 7. This survey suggests that a lot of Kampo medicine has been recently introduced for certain indications in dentistry and oral surgery.