Lip impressions: a new method for monitoring morphological changes in orofacial granulomatosis.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and evaluate an objective method for assessing lip size and treatment-related morphological changes in orofacial granulomatosis (OFG) patients.


METHODS
Patients with swollen lips because of OFG (n=21) were enrolled. A light-body polyvinylsiloxane material was used to take lip impressions before and after treatment (n=10), or during treatment (n=11). Plaster models were cast from the impressions and the lips were measured using callipers. The intra-examiner and inter-examiner reproducibility of the technique were assessed.


RESULTS
OFG patients had significantly larger lips than controls (P<0.0001). The coefficient of variation on repeated measurements of the same impression was 1.6% and for duplicate impressions was 2.6%. Significant reduction in lip size was shown in all 10 patients after diet restriction (P<0.002). Seven of 11 patients whose impressions were taken at least 3 months after the initiation of cinnamon- and benzoate-free diet also showed reduction in lip size during follow up (P<0.002).


CONCLUSIONS
Serial lip impressions appear to be reliable for routine quantification of morphological changes of the lips in OFG patients. We present a new reproducible and sensitive method for assessing changes in lip size in response to treatment in OFG.
Chiandussi
S
S
Department of Oral Medicine, King's College London Dental Institute of Guy's, King's College & St Thomas' Hospitals, London, UK.
Tappuni
A R
AR
Watson
T F
TF
White
A
A
Escudier
M P
MP
Sanderson
J D
JD
Challacombe
S J
SJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001565:Benzoates / Q000009:adverse effects; D002508:Cephalometry / Q000295:instrumentation; D002935:Cinnamomum zeylanicum / Q000009:adverse effects; D003760:Dental Impression Materials; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D051261:Granulomatosis, Orofacial / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008046:Lip / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D015588:Observer Variation; D011145:Polyvinyls; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012833:Siloxanes; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D001565:Benzoates; D003760:Dental Impression Materials; D011145:Polyvinyls; D012833:Siloxanes; C034183:vinyl polysiloxane