2021 Volume 63 Issue 4 Pages 205-218
Symptoms of desquamative gingivitis, which are common in women during the perimenopausal period, include gingival erythema, erosion, blistering, and exfoliation. In a previous study, we focused on equol, which has a chemical structure similar to that of estrogen, and reported the relationship between urinary equol levels and desquamative gingivitis, and the effect of oral equol intake for one month in improving the clinical symptoms. In the present study, we examined the effects of oral equol intake (10 mg/day) for over 6 months in 3 postmenopausal female patients with desquamative gingivitis during periodontal maintenance or supportive periodontal therapy.
It was observed that long-term intake of equol was associated with increased urinary equol levels and improvement in bleeding on probing, gingival pain, and the macroscopic findings. Therefore, these results suggest that oral intake of an equol supplement could be a promising novel treatment for patients with desquamative gingivitis.
