Open AccessZinc and vitamin A can minimise the severity of oral submucous fibrosis
Author(s) -
Richa Dhariwal,
Sanjit Mukherjee,
Sweta Pattanayak,
Anutosh Chakraborty,
Jharna Ray,
Keya Chaudhuri
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
bmj case reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.231
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 1757-790X
DOI - 10.1136/bcr.10.2009.2348
Subject(s) - oral submucous fibrosis , medicine , burning sensation , fibrosis , biopsy , zinc , precancerous condition , gastroenterology , vitamin , burning mouth syndrome , pathology , dentistry , surgery , materials science , cancer , metallurgy
We report a case of a 24-year-old man who presented with a complaint of reduced mouth opening and a burning sensation. On examination, he was clinically diagnosed with oral submucous fibrosis (OSF). Following routine biopsy and histopathological confirmation of OSF, the patient was supplemented with zinc acetate along with vitamin A and was followed up for 4 months. Following treatment the patient reported increased mouth opening and a reduced burning sensation. Histopathologically re-epithelialisation was evident along with the appearance of normal rete pegs. The data for mouth opening, collagen content and epithelial thickness of six other cases similarly treated are also presented, showing a significant increase in mouth opening and epithelial thickness and decrease in collagen content. We propose the use of zinc acetate and vitamin A for the management of OSF.