Clinical study of the treatment effects of direct current iontophoresis of triamcinolone acetonide on oral submucous fibrosis

To observe the clinical effects of direct current iontophoresis (DCI) of triamcinolone acetonide (TA) on treatment of oral submucous fibrosis.

Fifty-one patients were randomly divided in group A (n＝25), which underwent local submucous injection with TA (20 mg for each side) once a week for 8 weeks, and group B (n＝26), which underwent local TA administration by DCI (20 mg for each side) for 8 weeks, follow-up was performed 12 weeks after treatment. The distances between the upper and lower central incisors were recorded. The visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the pain caused by the two treatments. The Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP)-14 was used to assess the entire effect of treatments.

At 8 weeks of treatment, the mouth opening was in-creased by 3.25 ± 0.77 mm in group A and 3.76 ± 0.88 mm in group B (P < 0.05). At 20 weeks after treatment, the mouth opening was increased by 2.61 ± 0.62 mm in group A and 2.53 ± 0.52 mm in group B (P>0.05). After the first treatment, the VAS score of group A was 7.88 ± 0.80, and the VAS score of group B was 2.47 ± 0.64, resulting in a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001). After the last treatment, the VAS score was 7.29 ± 0.53 in group A and 1.77 ± 0.48 in group B, resulting in a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001). The VAS scores of the two groups were decreased after treatment, and the difference between groups was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The OHIP-14 score of patients in group A before treatment was 31.44 ± 2.55, while that in group B was 32.04 ± 2.20 (P>0.05). At 20 weeks after treatment, the score in group A was 13.52 ± 3.31 and that in group was 12.04 ± 2.84 (P>0.05). The OHIP-14 scores of the two groups were significantly decreased before and after treatment, and the difference between groups was statistically significant (P < 0.001).

The results suggest that local TA administration by DCI might be a promising method for treatment in the early and middle disease periods in OSF patients.