title: Medical Management of Oral Lichen Planus: A Systematic Review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory, T-cell-mediated autoimmune oral mucosal disease with unclear aetiology. The clinical management of OLP poses considerable difficulties to the oral physician.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to assess the efficacy of any form of intervention used to medically manage OLP.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched and analysed the following databases (from January 1990 to December 2014):- Cochrane Oral Health Group Trials Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE and EMBASE. All Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) for the medical management of OLP which compared active treatment with placebo or between active treatments were considered in this systematic review. Participants of any age, gender or race having symptomatic OLP (including mixed forms), unconnected to any identifiable cause (e.g. lichenoid drug reactions) and confirmed by histopathology have been included. Interventions of all types, including topical treatments or systemic drugs of variable dosage, duration & frequency of delivery have been considered. All the trials identified were appraised by five review authors and the data for all the trials were synthesised using specifically designed data extraction form. Binary data has been presented as risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and continuous data as mean differences (MD) with 95% CIs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 35 RCTs were included in this systematic review on medical management of OLP. No strong evidence suggesting superiority of any specific intervention in reducing pain and clinical signs of OLP were shown by the RCTs included here.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Future RCTs on a larger scale, adopting standardized outcome assessing parameters should be considered.
authors.affiliation: Private Practicner, Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Bangalore, Karnataka, India .
authors.forename: Swetha Singh
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Suresh
authors.affiliation: Senior Lecturer, Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Ahmedabad Dental College and Hospital , Bhadaj - Ranchodpura Road, Ahmedabad, India .
authors.forename: Krunal
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chokshi
authors.affiliation: Senior Lecturer, Department of Periodontology, A.C.P.M. Dental College , Dhule, India .
authors.forename: Sachin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.affiliation: Lecturer, Department of Prosthodontics, Terna Dental College , Nerul, Navi Mumbai, India .
authors.forename: Rahul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malu
authors.affiliation: Senior Lecturer, Department of Oral Pathology, Narsinhbhai Patel Dental College & Hospital , Visnagar, Gujarat, India .
authors.forename: Achala
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chokshi
keywords: Autoimmune disease; Interventions; Randomised controlled trials (RCTs); Treatment of oral lichen planus (OLP)