598CURCUMIN: THERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS IN SYSTEMIC AND ORAL HEALTHNumerous treatment modalities are available for variety of systemic and dental diseases; however, the main drawback of conventional medicinal therapies is its various side effects causing harm to the patient. This diverted the interest of researchers towards an alternative approach where natural compounds derived from plants could be used for treating those patients. Curcumin is such an alternative which exhibits a number of medicinal properties and has been used from the centuries. This article discusses the efficacy of curcumin in maintenance of oral health, in particular, and overall health, in general. Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is a polyphenol derived from the curcuma longa plant, commonly known as turmeric, is a herb known for its medicinal properties. It has a variety of therapeutic properties like anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, hepatoprotective, immunostimulant, anti-septic, anti-angiogenic, apoptotic and anti-mutagenic. All these beneficial properties makes this compound quite more useful in dental field especially in treating periodontal diseases and cancers involving head and neck region and oral cavity. It can also be formulated as a pit and fissure sealant, mouth wash, and subgingival irrigant in different preparations in different dosages and also as a component in local drug delivery system in gel formdr_deogade@yahoo.co.inReview642015Antimicrobial,Medicine,Mouthwash, Oral health,TurmericSuryakant C Deogade ,Sonalika Ghate Department of Prosthodontics and Crown & Bridge,, Hitkarini Dental College & Hospital, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India,Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Hitkarini Dental College & Hospital, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India