Evaluation of long-term effects in patients treated with Fränkel-2 appliance.

AIM: To evaluate the dentoskeletal effects produced by Fränkel-2 (FR-2) appliance during the treatment of patients with Class II malocclusion by mandibular retrusion and to verify the long-term stability of these changes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pre-treatment, post-treatment and long-term serial cephalograms (at least 10 years after the end of treatment) of patients treated with FR-2 were compared with data obtained from untreated controls. To be included in the study, patients and controls had to exhibit Class II malocclusion caused by short mandibular body. Lateral cephalograms were analysed with a specific tracing regimen in both groups. Summary measures for the initial cephalometric values and increments of changes between visits were calculated. RESULTS: Compared to controls, the FR-2 treatment produced a significant decrease in the ANB angle that improved the skeletal intermaxillary and occlusal relationship. At long-term follow- up, the FR-2 group showed further improvements of skeletal intermaxillary and occlusal relationship, therefore the changes observed during treatment showed no compensatory decline or rebound. CONCLUSION: FR-2 treatment, in conjunction with a period of post-functional fixed appliance therapy designed to perfect the occlusion, can produce a long-lasting improvement of the skeletal Class II malocclusions with little skeletal correction and significant incisor compensation.

Expression of sexual hormones receptors in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Sexual hormones play an important role in expression of genes involved in a wide variety of biological and neoplastic processes. The information on Estrogen Receptors (ER) expression in non-target tissues is very few and, in particular, the studies in head and neck tumors are still controversial. Recent studies analyzed the role of Tamoxifen (TAM) on Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) lines in relation to the presence/absence of ER. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the expression of sexual hormones receptors mRNAs, in particular Estrogen Receptor alpha (ERα) and Androgen Receptor (AR) mRNA in OSCC tissues. The study group comprised 20 samples of OSCC, harvested from 20 otherwise healthy subjects (14 males and 6 females, mean age 58.2y, range 38-74). The control group was formed by 20 samples of normal mucosa harvested around the margins of the specimens (at least 1 cm from the lesion margins). Estrogens Receptor alpha (Era) and Androgen Receptor (AR) mRNA expressions were analyzed by RT-PCR carried out on total RNAs extracted from both cancerous and healthy tissues. Obtained data were evaluated by Shapiro-Walk normality test and compared by Student's t test. Results with p<0.05 were considered statistically significant. AR transcripts were less expressed in OSCC specimens than in healthy tissues, while levels of ERα transcripts significantly increased in tumor samples. These preliminary data show different expression patterns of AR and ERα mRNAs in malignant tissues of oral mucosa and could suggest an involvement of these sexual hormones in oral cancer.

Efficacy of a spray compound containing a pool of collagen precursor synthetic aminoacids (l-proline, l-leucine, l-lysine and glycine) combined with sodium hyaluronate to manage chemo/radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis: preliminary data of an open trial.

Oral mucositis (OM) is a very frequent and potentially severe complication experienced by patients receiving chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, which often leads to significant morbidity and mortality, and decreased quality of life, and is very costly. Despite its severity and prevalence, there is no standard recognised management today. The aim of this open clinical trial is to evaluate the efficacy and compliance of a new spray compound containing sodium hyaluronate (SH) and a pool of collagen precursor amino acids (AAs) combined with sodium hyaluronate (SH) to manage radio/chemotherapy-induced OM. Twenty-seven consecutive patients with OM were treated according to the manufacturers instructions. At time T0 (baseline before intervention), we evaluated the following parameters: (i) pain score (by linear visual analogue scale; 0100) and (ii) severity of OM scored according to WHO Mucositis scale. The treatment efficacy was evaluated on i) pain score, ii) clinical resolution index (CRI) and iii) patient compliance at times T01 (after 2 hours), T1 (after 24 hours), T2 (after 72 hours), T3 (after 7 days) and T4 (after 14 days). Results showed that painful symptoms were significantly reduced after only 2 hours of spray administration compared with baseline measurements (p less than 0.0001; z=-4.541). A progressive reduction of pain through the 2 weeks was also noted (p less than 0.0001). Patient lesions treated with SH-Asbased spray also significantly improved after 72 hours of treatment (p=0.0051; z=-2.803). During the two-week observation, all patients significantly improved from the baseline (p less than 0.0001) and progressively ameliorated their ability to swallow foods and liquids. The compliance of all patients to the product was very good, and at the end of the study there were no adverse effects. The results suggest that the SHAAs-based spray accelerates lesion healing and above all helps to manage mucositis pain, especially in terms of immediate pain relief (after 2 hours from application). Although further randomized controlled studies are recommended, our findings suggest that frequent applications of this spray may offer rapid and effective pain management, aiding faster mucosal wound healing.