Comparison of the dental serial patch test outcomes of lichen planus patients with and without oral involvement

Aim: Lichen planus is a chronic and inflammatory cutaneous disease. Numereous diseases and agents have been accused in the etiology of LP. The materials used in dental treatment are of these factors. In order to determine whether the dental restorative materials act in the etiology of LP and to detect the effect of dental materials in cases where there is not oral involvement we aimed to compare the outcomes of dental series patch test in the patients with and without oral involvement. Material and Method: The study involved a total of 38 patients who admitted to İnönü University Medical Faculty Dermatology Department and İnönü University Dentistry Faculty Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department and diagnosed with LP clinically and/or histopathologically.19 of the patients had oral involvement and the other 19 patients had no oral involvement. All of the patients received dental serial patch test. Results: 14 of the 19 patients with oral involvement (%73.7) and 15 of the patients without oral involvement (%78.9) showd positive reaction against at least one material. There was not a statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of patch test positiveness (p=1.00). The allergants that mostly showd positive reaction against patch test in the group with oral involvement were copper sulfate and cobalt (II) cloride hexahydrate (%23.3). In the group without oral involvement the allergant that showd positive reaction mostly was copper sulfate (%47.3). Conclusion: The similarity of the allergants that showd positive reaction and the rate of positiveness of dental serial patch test in the groups with and without oral involvement promotes that the dental restorative materials may trigger the disease even in cases without OLP. In recent researches the effects of contact allergants in the patients with oral involvement were studied. Therefore, larger series of studies are needed to determine whether the dental restorative materials act in the etiology of the cases with LP that have no oral involvement. Key words: Lichen planus, oral involvement, dental series patch test