Salivary Levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in Patients with Denture Stomatitis Before and After Laser Phototherapy

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to monitor therapeutic response by determining the level of proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α 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. Materials and 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-α and IL-6, ELISA (Sigma Immunochemicals, St Louis, MO) was performed. Results: Following treatment with LPT for 4 wk, the levels of TNF-α and IL-6 decreased significantly (p < 0.001) and were significantly different from controls (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that LPT may be an efficacious choice of therapy.