Background:

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is a common mucosal disorder presenting as painful ulcerations in oral cavity. As the etiology is not fully understood, there is no cure of the disease and treatment of RAS is largely aimed at symptom control. The purpose of this study was to compare the therapeutic efficacy of ozone therapy with conventional topical hyaluronic acid-triamcinolone acetonide-diclofenac sodium therapy in the treatment of patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis.

Material and Methods:

The clinical trial was carried out on 40 patients with RAS divided into two groups. Group 1 (n=20) was prescribed topical hyaluronic acid-triamcinolone acetonide-diclofenac sodium two times daily for one week, while Group 2 (n=20) was treated with ozone by local insufflation of the gas at two consecutive days. Treatment efficacy was assessed by comparing pain scores and greatest diameter of the lesion in both groups at baseline and after one week.

Results:

In Group 1 pre-treatment mean pain score was 3,85 ± 1,23; the mean pain score at 1st week was 0,60 ± 1,14. In Group 2 pre-treatment mean pain score was 3,05 ± 1,73; the mean pain score at 1st week was 0,16 ± 0,37. In Group 1 pre-treatment lesion size of 3,20 ± 1,32 regressed to 0,55 ± 0,89 at 1st week. In Group 2 pre-treatment lesion size of 3,89 ± 2,06 regressed to 0,42 ± 1,04 at 1st week. Ozone therapy showed better results than topical hyaluronic acid-triamcinolone acetonide-diclofenac sodium in reduction of pain scores. However, ozone therapy and topical hyaluronic acid-triamcinolone acetonide-diclofenac sodium application both proved to be similarly effective on reducing the size of the lesions.

Conclusion:

Ozone therapy could be considered as an alternative treatment modality in the management of patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis.

Keywords: Hyaluronic acid-triamcinolone acetonide-diclofenac sodium, ozone, recurrent aphthous stomatitis