Clinical Study on the Relationship between Disease Severity and Oral Hygiene in Pemphigus Vulgaris and Oral Lichen Planus

Abstract

Patients with oral mucosal disease have difficulty in oral self-care and tend to have poor oral hygiene. Furthermore, steroid therapy may increase the risk of secondary infection in the oral cavity. Although the importance of oral hygiene management has been reported so far, there have been few detailed studies on the relationship between disease severity and oral hygiene management.
In this study, the correlation between disease severity and oral hygiene status was evaluated in 10 pemphigus vulgaris （PV） patients and 5 oral lichen planus （OLP） patients. A significant correlation （r＝0.751, P＜0.01） was observed between disease status and oral hygiene in PV patients. In contrast, no significant correlation was observed in OLP patients （r＝0.233, P＜0.05）. Oral hygiene intervention by dental hygienists is important in the acute phase of PV, because it should prevent worsening of the disease severity and the secondary infection associated with steroid therapy. In OLP, exacerbation factors such as narrow oral vestibule and patient background may affect the effectiveness of professional oral hygiene treatment. Therefore, elimination of the exacerbating factors and individualized oral management are needed.