ObjectiveIn this study, the effect of photodynamic therapy with topical corticosteroid in oral lichen planus patients was compared.Material and MethodsIn this randomized, double‐blind clinical trial, eight patients with bilateral oral OLP lesions were recruited. Toluidine blue was applied on the lesions of both sides; a 660‐nm diode laser InGaAlP was irradiated for 10 min (power: 25 mW, fluence: 19.23 J/cm2, probe cross section: 0.78 cm2) for three sessions. In the control side of the oral mucosa, only sham laser was used. Follow‐up sessions were held on weeks 3 and 7. In week 3, oral paste triamcinolone acetonide 0.1% was prescribed. Response rates were assessed clinically by VAS, Thongprasom sign scoring, clinical severity index, efficacy indices, and the amount of reduction in the size of the lesions. The Mann–Whitney test was used to evaluate the treatment outcomes.ResultsIn spite of the control side, all scores improved significantly between sessions 0 and 4 for the intervention side. The differences between the changes in almost all scores between sessions 0 and 4 in both the intervention and control sides were significantly considerable (p value < .05).ConclusionPhotodynamic therapy can be used as an alternative therapy alongside standard methods or as a new modality for refractory OLP.

We found no significant level of efficacy for the GaAs laser in the management of common orofacial pain. Further studies are suggested to evaluate the efficacy of other types of lasers with different parameters in the management of orofacial pains.

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Background and Purpose: Oral candidiasis is one of the most common fungal infections in humans. The treatment and prophylaxis of the patients suffering from this infection require the identification of new anti-Candida agents with no side effects or toxicity like medicinal plants. The present study was conducted to compare the antifungal activities of the aqueous, ethanolic, and methanolic extracts of the bark and roots of P. granatum with those of two routine antifungal agents (i.e., fluconazole and nystatin) on oral Candida strains isolated from liver transplant recipients.Materials and Methods: Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the ethanolic, methanolic, and aqueous extracts of the bark and root of Punica granatum against C. albicans and C. glabrata isolated from oral cavities were evaluated according to the CLSI M27-A3. All data were analyzed in SPSS (version 16.0) by pairwise comparison and Kruskal-Wallis test.Results: The MIC50 and MIC90 values for the methanolic and ethanolic extracts of the bark and root of P. granatum against C. albicans were both obtained as 0.05 mg/ml with the geometric mean (GM) of 0.07. Furthermore, the MIC90 values for the aqueous extracts of bark and root were estimated as 0.05 and 0.2 mg/ml, respectively. With regard to C. glabrata, the MIC50 and MIC90 values for the methanolic and ethanolic extracts of the bark and root were 0.05 mg/ml. However, the MIC90 value for the aqueous extract against this species was obtained as 25 mg/ml. The GM values for the aqueous extracts of the bark and root were 9.49 and 0.32, respectively.Conclusion: As the findings indicated, the methanolic and ethanolic extracts of the bark and root of Punica granatum had anti-Candida activities. Therefore, they can be considered as mouthwash or toothpaste to prevent and treat Candida infections in the oral cavity.

Background In this study, we aimed to evaluate the sex hormonal serum level in patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis and compare them with healthy participants. Methods This cross-sectional study was done on patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis who had referred to Shiraz Dental Faculty, Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine Department during 2018–2019. The non -menopause women with recurrence of at least 3 lesions per year were enrolled in this study. The mean serum level of FSH, LH, PRL (prolactin), testosterone, DHT (Dihydrotestosterone), DHEA-S (Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate), estradiol and progesterone of 30 participants in each group of case and control were measured and compared. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 18 and independent T-test, Mann–Whitney U test, Spearman’s correlation coefficient test, Chi-square test and Fisher’s test. Results The mean serum level of DHEA-S in patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) was significantly lower than the control group (p value = 0.02). In addition to DHEA-S, the mean serum level of testosterone was lower in the evaluation group although this difference was not significant (p value = 0.057). Considering the effect of age on the mean serum level of sex hormones, our results revealed that only DHEA-S mean serum level was decreased by increasing the age of participants in patients with RAS (p value = 0.018). The number of participants with abnormal range of testosterone (p value < 0.0001) and progesterone (p value = 0.037) serum level was significantly more in patients with RAS. The frequency of RAS in a year did not show a significant relationship with the serum level of the evaluated hormones. Conclusion The patients with RAS had a lower serum level of DHEA-S. The mean serum level of testosterone and progesterone was significantly abnormal in RAS patients.