en Ethno-botany كاربردي Review/Systemtic review <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="line-height:107%"><span calibri=""><b><span new="" roman="" times="">Objective:</span></b><span new="" roman="" times=""> This study aimed to systematically synthesize ethnobotanical evidence on medicinal plants used for toothache and oral pain in Southern Iran and to examine cross-study recurrence, geographic variation, preparation practices, and indication shifts using an AI-assisted evidence-analysis framework.</span></span></span><br> <span style="line-height:107%"><span calibri=""><b><span new="" roman="" times="">Methods:</span></b><span new="" roman="" times=""> Published ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological studies from Fars, Hormozgan, Bushehr, and Khuzestan were systematically reviewed up to 25 September 2026. Eligible records were classified into strict toothache/oral-analgesic and broader dental/oral evidence layers. Plant names were taxonomically harmonized using authoritative botanical databases. AI-assisted procedures supported literature matching, synonym screening, evidence organization, and identification of taxon&ndash;indication&ndash;geography patterns, with all outputs manually verified against primary sources. Qualitative synthesis followed a thematic approach.</span></span></span><br> <span style="line-height:107%"><span calibri=""><b><span new="" roman="" times="">Results:</span></b><span new="" roman="" times=""> Fourteen independent primary studies were included. The strict evidence set comprised 56 source rows representing 50 harmonized taxa from 24 families; 43 rows explicitly concerned toothache or dental pain, while 13 represented oral analgesic use. Asteraceae and Lamiaceae were the most represented families. Cross-study recurrence was low: 47 of 50 taxa occurred in only one study. <i>Solanum nigrum</i>, <i>Zataria multiflora</i>, and <i>Matricaria chamomilla</i> were the only recurrent Southern-Iran taxa. The broader oral-care layer included 22 rows and 19 taxa, revealing regional shifts between pain relief, gingival care, infection control, and oral hygiene.</span></span></span><br> <span style="line-height:107%"><span calibri=""><b><span new="" roman="" times="">Conclusion:</span></b><span new="" roman="" times=""> Southern-Iran ethnobotanical evidence shows high local diversity with a small recurrent core. Source-level verification, taxonomic harmonization, and AI-assisted pattern recognition improved the consistency and interpretability of the synthesis. Recurrent taxa may represent priorities for future pharmacological and clinical investigation, but ethnobotanical recurrence should not be interpreted as evidence of clinical efficacy.</span></span></span><br> <img alt="" src="./files/site1/images/copuediting.png" style="width: 586px; height: 265px;" ><br> &nbsp;</span></span> ,Ethnobotany,Medicinal plants,Toothache,Artificial intelligence,Southern Iran 0 0 http://pbp.medilam.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1587-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mehdi Nasim mehdi.nasony@gmail.com 10031947532846006804 10031947532846006804 Yes DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery), University of the East, Manila, Philippines