Bee Venom, Honey, and Royal Jelly in the Treatment of Bacterial Infections of the Oral Cavity: A Review

Abstract

Oral diseases affect a very large number of people, and the applied pharmacological methods of treatment and/or prevention have serious side effects. Therefore, it is necessary to search for new, safer methods of treatment. Natural bee products, such as honey, royal jelly, and bee venom, can be a promising alternative in the treatment of oral cavity bacterial infections. Thus, we performed an extensive literature search to find and summarize all articles about the antibacterial activity of honey, royal jelly, and bee venom. Our analysis showed that these bee products have strong activity against the bacterial strains causing caries, periodontitis, gingivitis, pharyngitis, recurrent aphthous ulcers, supragingival, and subgingival plaque. An analysis of average MIC values showed that honey and royal jelly have the highest antimicrobial activity against Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum. In turn, bee venom has an antibacterial effect against Streptococcus mutans. Streptococcus sobrinus and Streptoccus pyogenes were the most resistant species to different types of honey, and royal jelly, respectively. Moreover, these products are safer in comparison to the chemical compounds used in the treatment of oral cavity bacterial infections. Since the antimicrobial activity of bee products depends on their chemical composition, more research is needed to standardize the composition of these compounds before they could be used in the treatment of oral cavity bacterial infections.