Objectives: Oral Squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is primarily a disease that mainly occurs in males in their sixth and seventh decades of life and is rare in young adults. Study Design: In this retrospective study, records of patients under the age of 40, with the diagnosis of OSCC in the Oral Medicine Department of Mashhad Dental Faculty during the past 13 years were analyzed. Their socioeconomic data, demographic, clinical and histopathological characteristics, risk factors, familial history were assessed and applicable studies and case reports in the literatures were reviewed. PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) analysis was also done for detection of human papilloma virus (HPV). Results: From 158 cases of OSCC diagnosed in our centre, 21 patients were younger than 40 years. Most of them were young men (12 cases). There was no significant risk factor in this group. The most common site of involvement was the tongue. The most common clinical presentation was exophytic lesion with ulcer. No HPV DNA was detected in these patients. Conclusion: Characteristics of OSCC in young patients are different from older age group. Major risk factors (smoking and alcohol consumption and HPV) were not etiologic factors for OSCC in young patients in our province.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of oral mucosal lesions in institutionalized elderly people in Mashhad, northeast of Iran. Background: This study was conducted to assess the prevalence of oral lesions in the institutionalized elderly. Methods: In this survey, we studied all of the nursing homes in Mashhad; a total of five encompassing 237 residents. The subjects were examined and lesions recorded in a designed checklist. T-test, chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used for the analysis. Results: The mean age of the patients was 79.59 ± 8.88. Ninety-eight per cent of cases had at least one oral mucosal lesion. The most common lesions were fissured tongue (66.5%), atrophic glossitis (48.8%), sublingual varicosity (42%) and xerostomia (38%). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of denture-related lesions (DRLs) between men and women (p > 0.05). Xerostomia was more prevalent in 70-79-year-old than in 60-69-year-old subjects. No case of oral malignant lesion was detected. Discussion: These findings revealed a higher prevalence of oral mucosal lesions in Mashhad city compared with other studies conducted in other major cities in Iran and abroad. The results emphasise the necessity of national programmes towards oral health promotion.

Oral mucositis (OM) is a complication of head and neck cancer (HNC) therapy with negative impact on the quality of life. Although definitive treatment has not yet been established, there is interest towards the use of natural compounds owing to their few side effects. Curcumin has a variety of biological and pharmacological properties including anticancer and anti‐inflammatory effects. Aim The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of curcumin in the form of nanomicelle on OM in HNC patients receiving radiotherapy. Methods In this clinical trial, 32 HNC patients were allocated to case and control groups, and respectively received nanocurcumin or placebo during radiotherapy. Results We found a statistically significant difference in the severity of mucositis between the 2 groups at all visits. In contrast to the control‐group patients, who all developed OM in the 2nd week of radiotherapy, only 32% of the case group developed OM with no obvious oral or systemic side effects. Conclusion Our data show that nanomicelle curcumin is an effective agent in the prevention of OM or reducing its severity. Thus, the administration of nanocurcumin can be considered as a reasonable approach to hinder the development of OM in HNC patients requiring radiotherapy.

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http://www.medicinaoral.com/medoralfree01/v15i2/medoralv15i2p322.pdf AbstractObjectives: Current treatments of oral lichen planus are palliative, not curative. Because psychiatric disorders significantly influence the development and severity of oral lichen planus, the use of psychiatric drug therapy may be an adjunct in treatment. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of drug therapy of psychiatric disorders in oral lichen planus. Study design: Our controlled clinical study consisted of forty-six patients with oral lichen planus and psychiatric disorders who were randomly divided into two groups. Both groups were given topical corticosteroids and the study group received additional psychiatric drug therapy. Patients were monitored for a period of 6 months. Response to treatment was evaluated in each group and was compared with the other group using Mann-Whitney tests. We evaluated the correlation between psychiatric disorders and the recovery of oral lesions using Spearman's correlation coefficient analysis. Results: Decrease in the size of the lesions was significantly greater in the study group after six months, but this difference was not significant in relationship to the pain experienced and the kind of lesion. Spearman's correlation coefficient analysis demonstrated that, in the sixth month, there was a significant and direct relationship between recovery from the psychiatric disorders and response to treatment of OLP lesions, particularly as it pertained to the kind of lesion. Conclusion: The present study indicates that the combination of psychiatric drug therapy and routine treatment methods were effective in reducing the size of the lesions, but did not have any significant effect on the symptoms.