Salivary levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 in patients with denture stomatitis before and after laser phototherapy.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to monitor therapeutic response by determining the level of proinflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-6 in whole unstimulated saliva in patients with denture stomatitis (DS), before and after laser phototherapy (LPT).


BACKGROUND
DS is an inflammatory condition that occurs in subjects who wear dentures, and it is a common oral mucosal lesion. A potential noninvasive treatment for DS patients is LPT.


METHODS
A sample consisting of 40 consecutive subjects was selected on a voluntary basis from patients who presented for the diagnosis and treatment of DS at the Oral Medicine Unit of the Medical Faculty at the University of Rijeka. A clinical examination was performed according to the standard clinical criteria. Lesions described as palatal inflammation were diagnosed as Newton type II denture stomatitis. The patients were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (20 patients receiving real LPT) or a control group (20 patients receiving inactive/placebo laser treatment). In order to determine the salivary levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6, ELISA (Sigma Immunochemicals, St Louis, MO) was performed.


RESULTS
Following treatment with LPT for 4 wk, the levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 decreased significantly (p < 0.001) and were significantly different from controls (p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study suggest that LPT may be an efficacious choice of therapy.
Department of Prosthodontics, School of Dentistry, Medical Faculty, University of Rijeka, Croatia.
Marica
M
Simunović-Soskić
Sonja
S
Pezelj-Ribarić
Gordana
G
Brumini
Irena
I
Glazar
Renata
R
Grzić
Ivana
I
Miletić
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000032:analysis*; D028022:Low-Level Light Therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D013282:Stomatitis, Denture / Q000378:metabolism / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis*
D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha