The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) and alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) in the treatment of burning mouth syndrome (BMS) and secondary oral burning (SOB) by unstimulated sialometry, symptom assessment, and measurement of salivary TNF-α levels. Forty-four patients were randomized into four treatment groups: BMS/laser (n = 10), BMS/ALA (n = 5), SOB/laser (n = 15), and SOB/ALA (n = 14). The control group consisted of eight healthy female subjects. Unstimulated salivary flow was measured before and after treatment, and the collected saliva was stored at - 20 °C for the analysis of TNF-α. Symptoms were evaluated before and after treatment using a pain visual analog scale. Most patients were women (81.8%) during menopause (72.2%). LLLT and ALA were efficient in increasing salivary flow only in BMS but provided symptom relief in both conditions. TNF-α levels did not differ between patients with BMS and SOB or between those patients and the control group. No differences were observed in posttreatment TNF-α levels in either condition. The results of this study suggest that LLLT and ALA are efficient therapies in reducing burning mouth symptoms, with LLLT being more efficient than ALA.

BACKGROUNDRecurrent aphthous ulcerations are common benign ulcerated lesions on the mouth, whose etiology is poorly understood, with controversial treatment and difficult to control in clinical practice.OBJECTIVETo evaluate the cases of recurrent aphthous ulcerations with a focus on treatment, diagnosis and etiology.METHODSThis is a retrospective study of the cases of the Oral Diagnosis service of the Rio Grande do Norte Federal University in Natal/RN. Data such as sex, age, race, location, smoking habits, types of treatment, relapsing episodes, laboratory test results and clinical characteristics were collected. The associations between the variables were analyzed using the Pearson Chi-square test (p <0.05).RESULTSA total of 4895 patients were seen in the service over a period of 11 years. Of these, 161 (3.3%) had complaints of oral aphthous ulcerations, of which 76 (47.2%) were diagnosed as suffering from recurrent aphthous ulcerations and 68 (42.2%) with clinical information necessary for evaluation. The tongue was the most affected anatomical region, with 27 individuals (39.7%), followed by the buccal mucosa, with 22 cases (32.3%).STUDY LIMITATIONSRetrospective study with data from medical records.CONCLUSIONDental surgeons, dermatologists and otorhinolaryngologists are the main responsible for the first contact with patients with this disease and should be attentive to the clinical aspects and treat each patient in an individualized way, since the therapy is palliative, its diagnosis is by exclusion and its etiology is unknown.

Thus, this measure of local hemostasis in topical form with gauze compression and irrigation was shown to be more effective in reducing the time to attain immediate hemostasis, and in preventing intermediate hemorrhage.

Objective: This research aims to establish the prevalence, factors associated with the onset, and clinical and histopathological features of oral leukoplakia and erythroplakia, so that these data can contribute to the prevention of these lesions and, consequently, of oral cancer. Material and method: A retrospective study was conducted at a reference service of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) from 2000 to 2012. To verify the association of variables, Pearson's chi-squared test and Fisher's exact test (p ≤ 0.05) were used. Results: Among 6,560 investigated records, 54 cases were selected, of which 44.4% were male and 55.6% female, with mean age of 56.93 years. Regarding habits, 72.2% were smokers and 25% were alcohol users; 17.9% showed association of both habits. Oral leukoplakia lesions were the most prevalent (0.65%) and oral erythroplakia showed greater association with malignancy in the histopathological presentation (p = 0.001). Most lesions showed no symptoms (p = 0.004). The most frequent was oral leukoplakia in smoking women, with mean age of 57 years. Conclusion: Knowledge of associated factors and clinical characteristics of oral leukoplakia and erythroplakia is essential for establishing the correct diagnosis and treatment.

Hemangiomas are benign neoplasms that are common in the head and neck, but relatively rare in the oral cavity. They can cause esthetic and functional impairment, depending on location. The most common site is the upper lip, but they can occur in other areas, such as the tongue, buccal mucosa and palate. Treatment is primarily dependent on correct diagnosis of the lesion and on its anatomic location. The purpose of this article is to provide a description of a case of a hemangioma on the upper lip, treated by therapeutic sclerosis with monoethanolamine oleate (Ethamolin  ), covering clinical characteristics and methods for diagnosing these lesions. Precise diagnosis and appropriate therapeutic management resulted in satisfactory esthetic and functional results, with total regression of the lesion and no signs of relapse at 1-year follow-up.Keywords: hemangioma; sclerotherapy; neoplasms, vascular tissue; mouth; lip. ResumoO hemangioma é uma neoplasia benigna comum na região de cabeça e pescoço, e é relativamente rara na cavidade oral, podendo causar prejuízo estético e funcional a depender da sua localização. Sua localização mais frequente é o lábio superior, mas pode ocorrer em outras regiões, como língua, mucosa jugal e palato. O seu tratamento depende, principalmente, do correto diagnostico da lesão, bem como da localização anatômica da mesma. A proposta deste artigo é relatar um caso de hemangioma em lábio superior tratado com esclerose terapêutica com oleato de monoetanolamina (Ethamolin  ), considerando as características clínicas e os métodos de diagnóstico desta lesão. Por