Plaque control improves the painful symptoms of oral lichen planus gingival lesions. A short-term study

A selection of abstracts of clinically relevant papers from other journals. The abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by John R. Radford.

Abstract

This study supports recommendations (www.bsom.org.uk/LP_guidelines_-_BSOM.pdf) that plaque control has a role in management of patients with oral lichen planus of the gingiva.

Main

Salgado DS, Jeremias F et al. J Oral Pathol Med 2013; 42: 728–732

Oral lichen planus (OLP) of the gingiva (within the umbrella of desquamative gingivitis), was managed historically by the ubiquitous oral hygiene. On what was this based? This study recruited 20 patients with OLP of the gingiva. This diagnosis was confirmed by histopathology. Each patient received oral prophylaxis and then weekly professional plaque removal including instruction in home oral care. For up to 30 days, patients were evaluated with regard to clinical features (Index of Escudier et al.), painful symptoms (using a visual analog scale) and some conventional periodontal indices. Both an improvement in clinical features and a decrease in painful symptoms were associated with a reduction in the periodontal indices. The investigators were equivocal as to whether or not the dental plaque microbiome may exacerbate the severity of OLP of the gingiva, or if this condition, that is invariable atrophic or ulcerative, compromises effective home oral care.