In vivo evaluation of traumatic and malignant oral ulcers with optical coherence tomography: A comparison between histopathological and ultrastructural findings.

Ulcers in the oral mucosa is a relatively common, although challenging, entity in oral medicine, as it can arise due to a wide range of traumatic, infective, autoimmune, and neoplastic disorders. Although histopathology of lesional and peri­lesional tissues remains the gold standard for persistent oral breaching, optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been recently suggested as a potential ally to enhance the early or non-invasive diagnosis of likely causation. The aim of the present study was to provide an in-vivo OCT analysis and description from a sample of 70 patients affected by traumatic or neoplastic-related ulcers, located on the buccal mucosa, tongue or gingiva, and compare the OCT data with those of 20 patients with healthy oral mucosa. OCT dynamic scans revealed clear distinction of epithelial layer (EP), lamina propria (LP) of healthy buccal mucosa, gingiva, and tongue as well as allowing observation of the keratin layer in gingiva, and the subepithelial vascularization of each site. Traumatic lesions had an EP of reduced in thickness, with an irregular, if not disrupted surface. Interestingly, LP seemed to preserve its reflectiveness and vascularization only in the traumatic lesions. Among neoplastic lesions, regardless their site of onset, both EP integrity/homogeneity, and LP reflectiveness/vascularization were lost and unrecognizable when compared to their healthy counterparts. OCT scanning allowed some differentiation between traumatic and malignant ulcers and thus may a useful and non-invasive means of determining the need and/or urgency of histopathological examination of oral lesions.

Effect of two different alcohol-free chlorhexidine formulations in mouthrinses on the immediate postoperative period for oral mucosal biopsies.

Oral biopsy is a common surgical practice. To date, few authors have described the healing of mucosal wounds following oral biopsy. The aim of the present single-center, prospective, randomized, controlled study is to evaluate the differences between two chlorhexidine (CHX) mouthrinses and a treatment-free approach in the immediate postoperative period following oral mucosal biopsy. 354 patients were included in this study and were randomly allocated to three groups: A) CHX 0.12% mouthrinse (twice daily, 10 mL rinse for 30 s), B) CHX 0.20% mouthrinse (twice daily, 10 mL rinse for 30 s), and C) no topical treatment. 118 patients were treated in group A and 115 in group B; 121 received no therapy in group C, reporting the greatest improvement in related symptoms. Outcome variables included the age, gender, site and size of lesions, visual analog score (VAS), Oral Health Impact Profile questionnaire (OHIP-14), and number of painkillers taken during the first week post-surgery. Use of a CHX 0.12% mouthrinse exhibited the poorest outcome. On the other hand, best clinical healing was found for patients treated with CHX 0.20%. These findings suggest that regardless of its concentration, CHX was found to be ineffective in reducing related symptoms, whereas CHX 0.20% can be recommended to facilitate enhanced healing.