1. Aim
Desquamative gingivitis (DG) is a clinical representation of many autoimmune diseases, presenting with erythema, shedding and ulceration of free and attached gingiva. In the last decade, evidence suggested that DG could play a role in increasing the long-term risk for periodontal tissue breakdown, leading to the inclusion of periodontal therapies as additional treatment for DG patients [1]. Topical doxycycline gel has been tested successfully as additional option to scaling and root planing (SRP), triggering the reduction of periodontal pathogens [2]. Aim of the present work was to assess the role of 14% doxycycline gel (Ligosan®, Dental Trey, Turin, Italy) as an additional tool to non-surgical periodontal treatment on patients affected by Oral Lichen Planus (OLP)-related DG, and active periodontitis.
2. Methods
Patients referred to the Department of Oral Medicine, CIR Dental School, Turin, were enrolled. Inclusion criteria were: symptomatic DG, caused by histologically confirmed OLP, and active periodontitis, with at least three periodontal intraosseous defects of 5 mm or more. The eligible patients were randomly assigned either to “cases”, where Ligosan® was administered with SRP, or to “controls”, undergoing SRP alone. Severity of DG and periodontitis were evaluated through the following parameters: visual analogue scale (VAS), full-mouth plaque score (FMPS), full-mouth bleeding score (FMBS), and desquamative gingivitis clinical score (DGCS) [3]. Statistical analysis was performed through Wilcoxon and signed rank test. Table 1 shows the main characteristics of each therapeutic protocol.
Table 1.
Treatment designed for Cases and Controls.
3. Results
Ten patients were recruited: six cases (4 M; 2 F; mean age: 54 years old; range 48–84), and four controls (1 M; 3 F; mean age: 72 years old; range 64–74). Among cases, statistical analysis revealed a significant decrease of FMPS and FMBS (p < 0.05), a quasi-significant decrease of DGCS (p = 0.07), with no significant variations of VAS (p > 0.05), after treatment. Controls experienced no significant fluctuations for either of the aforesaid parameters (p > 0.05). When compared, only FMPS was significantly decreased in cases rather than controls (p < 0.05).
4. Conclusions
To our knowledge, this is the first attempt of experimenting the reliability of topical doxycycline in patients with DG and active periodontitis. The main limitation of this work relies in the very small sample of patients recruited. Ligosan® showed encouraging results in the reduction of DG severity, and improvement of the periodontal status. Further studies on larger samples could be useful to establish the consistency of these preliminary results.
Acknowledgments
The Authors would like to thank Dental Trey for providing free Ligosan® samples.
Conflicts of Interest
The Authors declare no conflict of interest. Dental Trey had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript.
References
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