Oral adverse reactions associated with etoricoxib, a common pain medication.

BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW: There have been reports of cutaneous adverse reactions to etoricoxib, a frequently used anti-inflammatory and antipain medication. In this report, the authors describe the first series of patients with adverse reactions to etoricoxib restricted to the oral mucosa. CASE DESCRIPTION: The series comprised 7 men and 4 women, aged 25 through 81 years, 10 of whom had only oral lesions, 1 with mucocutaneous involvement. Lesions were erosive and aphthouslike or erythema multiformelike. In most of the cases, bilateral involvement of the palate was reported. Lips, tongue, and buccal mucosa were also involved. All lesions resolved after drug discontinuation. In 6 patients, repeated use resulted in recurrence of signs and symptoms similar to the first attack. CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The dental and medical community should be aware of the oral adverse effects of etoricoxib, recognize them in time, recommend drug-use cessation, and warn patients against repeated use.

Preserving formerly impaired salivary gland function in radioiodine-treated thyroid papillary carcinoma.

Salivary gland impairment after radioiodine therapy (RIT) is a well-known iatrogenic artifact that includes recurrent episodes of sialadenitis, hyposalivation, dysgeusia, and dysphagia. Several therapy modalities have been suggested over the years to decrease these effects on the salivary glands. However, in cases where the salivary gland system is impaired prior to RIT, preserving its function becomes more challenging. We present three patients who underwent RIT with pre-existing insult to the salivary glands and discuss the treatment modality employed. A protocol for treating patients with pre-existing salivary gland impairment prior to RIT is proposed. The dental professional personnel should be aware of RIT insult to the salivary glands in order to preserve more maliciously the oral health in these patients. Management of impaired salivary glands subjected to additional RIT is mandatory to reduce further damage to the glands' function primarily by combining interventional sialoendoscopy for recurrent sialadenitis and sialogogues for hyposalivation.