Delayed contact sensitivity on the lips and oral mucosa due to propolis-case report

We report a rare case of a patient who was referred to the Department of Oral medicine in Zagreb, Croatia. The patient was 20 years old, otherwise healthy and not taking any medication. She presented with irregular erosions partially covered with pseudomembranes that involved both lips and retrocomissural mucosa. Discrete erosion was also noticed on her lower lingual gingiva in the area 42. She reported a propolis solution self-medication for treatment of recurrent aphthous ulcers. After ten days of propolis application, lip and oral lesions developed. Patch test to propolis was proven. We highlight the fact that some folk medicine medications, such as propolis, although being known for many decades to be helpful in various conditions, in some individuals might lead to unwanted side-effects due to its antigenic potential. Additionally, every colleague, during the differential diagnosis of the oral lesions must bear in mind unwanted reactions to folk medicine products

Evaluation of pretreatment serum interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor alpha as a potential biomarker for recurrence in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) constitutes 3 percent of all cancers with predominant occurrence in middle aged and elderly males. Tumour recurrence worsens disease prognosis and decreases quality of life in patients with OSCC. Proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) have been suggested to play a certain role in variety of tumours. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of pretreatment serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels on tumour recurrence in patients with OSCC in order to identify potential biomarkers for the early detection of disease recurrence. Material and Methods: The patients with newly diagnosed OSCC were treated and followed from the first visit from November 2006 until January 2008. Serum IL-6 and TNF-α concentrations were measured. The records of the patients were re-examined in July 2012 and data were recorded about cancer characteristics and tumour recurrence. Disease free survival was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier survival curves, log rank test and Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: Serum IL-6 was shown as an independent risk factor for tumour recurrence. Conclusions: Pretreatment serum IL-6 concentration may be a useful biomarker for identification of OSCC patients with increased risk of the disease recurrence

Superficial Morphea of the Lips and Gingiva

No abstract available</p

Oral burning symptoms and burning mouth syndrome-significance of different variables in 150 patients

Objectives: Despite the extensive amount of published literature upon burning symptoms in patients with clinically healthy appearance of the oral mucosa, as well as burning mouth syndrome (BMS) itself, they both remain still challenging topics. The aim of this study was to determine the real prevalence of ?true? BMS in comparison to other patients with burning symptoms with clinically healthy appearance of the oral mucosa and then to compare ?true? BMS patients with healthy controls regarding gastritis and intake of anxiolytics and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors. Study design: In 150 patients with burning symptoms of clinically healthy oral mucosa, local and systemic investigations were performed and they included detection of candidal infection, salivary flow rate, presence of oral galvanism and parafunctional habits as well as complete blood count, serum ferritin, serum glucose levels, serum antibodies to Helicobacter pylori together with detailed medical history with special regard to medication intake. After ?true? BMS patients were identified they have been compared to the controls with regard to the presence of gastritis and the intake of anxiolytics and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors. Results: Our results show that gastritis were significantly more present among ?true? BMS patients and that they also significantly more intake anxiolitics, when compared to the control group. Conclusions: Our findings might lead to the conclusion that every ?true? BMS patient should be referred to the gastroenterologist and psychiatrist

Oral lichen planus - retrospective study of 563 Croatian patients

Objectives: To investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of oral lichen planus (OLP) in a group of Croatian patients seen between 2006 and 2012. Study D esign: A group of 563 patients with a diagnosis of OLP was retrospectively reviewed in our clinic. Data regarding age, gender, medical history, drugs, smoking, alcohol, chief complaint, clinical type, localization, his - tology, treatment and malignant transformation were registered. Results: Of the 563 patients, 414 were females and 149 were males. The average age at the diagnosis was 58 (range 11-94). The most common site was buccal mucosa (82.4%). Most of our patients did not smoke (72.5%) or consume alcohol (69.6%). Patients reported oral soreness (43.3%), mucosal roughness (7%), xerostomia (3%), gingival bleeding (2%) and altered taste (0.5%) as the chief complaint, while almost half of them were asympto - matic (44.2%). The most common types of OLP were reticular (64.8%) and erosive (22.9%). Plaque-like (5.7%) atrophic/erythemtous (4.3%) and bullous (2.3%) type were also observed. Malignant transformation rate of 0.7% was recorded. Conclusions: OLP mostly affects non-smoking middle-aged women. Buccal mucosa is the most commonly af - fected site. In almost half of the cases patients are asymptomatic. In spite of the small risk for malignant transfor - mation all patients should be regularly monitored

Oral bullous lesions due to the azithromycin intake

We report a case of 29-year-old woman who was admitted to our Department with red eyes and two bullae located on the right buccal mucosa. Otherwise she is healthy but one day before she finished azithromycin (Sumamed, Tewa, Croatia) intake as she had pneumonia. Direct and indirect immunofluorescence did not reveal presence of vesicullobulous disorders. During the period of nine days she was given 40mg of prednisone (Decortin, Merck, Germany) orally as well as betamethasone (Beloderm, Belupo, Croatia) in orabase locally and after that the lesions subsided

Plasma rich in growth factors in dentistry

BackgroundPlasma rich in growth factors (PRGF) has wider use in many fields of dentistry due to its endogenous biocompatible regenerative potential i.e., their potential to stimulate and accelerate tissue healing and bone regeneration.AimsThis review shows the increasing use of PRGF technology in various fields of dentistry.Methods In the last nine years PubMed has been searched in order to find out published articles upon PRGF in dentistry and 36 papers have been included.Results PRGF technology has many advantages with positive clinical and biological outcomes in tissue healing and bone regeneration.ConclusionIn order to determine the most effective therapeutic value for patients, further research is required

Salivary and serum substance P, neurokinin A and calcitonin gene related peptide in burning mouth syndrome

Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is an enigmatic condition with the aetiopathogenesis remaining largely obscure. However, a neuropathic basis for BMS continues to be an area of active clinical and research interest.It is becoming increasingly evident that certain oral disorders may be modulated by imbalances in certain neuropeptides such as substance P (SP), neurokinin A (NKA) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) therefore we measured SP, NKA and CGRP in the saliva and sera of BMS patients as well as controls.Salivary and serum SP, NKA and CGRP were determined in the 26 female patients with burning mouth syndrome (age range 51-78, mean 65.69 yrs), and in the 22 female controls (age range 24-82, mean 49.72 yrs). Serum and salivary SP, NKA, CGRP levels were determined by commercial competitive enzyme immunoassay kits. Statistical analysis was performed by use of descriptive statistics and analysis of variance.No significant differences in salivary SP, NKA and CGRP as well as serum SP and CGRP between BMS patients and controls could be found. However, significantly decreased serum neurokinin A (