The real risks of steroid injection for plantar fasciitis, with a review of conservative therapies

This article presents a review of conservative therapies for plantar fasciitis pain reduction with a discussion of steroid therapy risks. The therapies reviewed include orthoses, stretching, extracorporeal shockwave, BTX-A, and corticosteroid injection/iontophoresis. These modes were included based on the availability of double blinded randomized controlled trials. We noted the following findings. Orthoses, regardless of type, can improve pain levels. Plantar stretching shows limited short-term benefit (1 month), but can reflect significant long-term improvement (10 months). Extracorporeal shockwave therapy shows equivocal benefit with some studies showing significant improvement and others showing none. Although BTX-A injections were the least studied, significant pain improvement was demonstrated in the short and long term. Steroid injection/iontophoresis showed significant improvement in the short term (1 month). Steroid therapy, when coupled with plantar stretching, can provide efficacious pain relief; however, steroid injections should be combined with ultrasound monitoring to reduce complications

Conservative, Surgical, and Prosthetic Treatment of a Patient with a Periapical Lesion Associated with an Atypical Intraoral Sinus Tract

This report describes a clinical case with an atypical intraoral sinus tract formation from diagnosis and treatment to short-term outcome and definitive prosthetic rehabilitation. In detail, the patient underwent conservative nonsurgical root canal treatment followed by guided bone augmentation of the regions involved in periapical inflammation and sinus tract formation. The removal of the inflammatory source of the lesion as well as the affected tissue clearly led to a healing of the surrounding bone tissues. Subsequently, the tooth was reconstructed using a fibreglass post and a metal-ceramic crown; an implant was successfully placed in the previously inflamed bone region