EFEITO CLÍNICO DO USO TÓPICO DE UNCARIA TOMENTOSAWILLD D.C.EM PACIENTES COM ESTOMATITE PROTÉTICA

Abstract

Denture stomatitis is a chronic oral disease that affects denture wearers. It presents as an inflammatory reaction in denture-bearing patients, under maxillary prosthesis. Candida spp. has been reported as the principal etiological agent. Despite the existence of a great number of antifungal agents, treatment failure is observed frequently. Uncaria tomentosaWilld D.C., known as cat’s claw, is habitually used in alternative medicine for the treatment of several diseases. The aim of this clinical study was to determine the efficacy of Uncaria tomentosa gel against denture stomatitis (DS). Fifty patients with DS were randomly assigned into three groups to receive either 2% miconazole gel as a positive control (Group M) or 1.5% hydroxyethylcellulose (natrosol) as a placebo group (Group P) or 2% Uncaria tomentosa gel as the experimental group (Group UT). All patients received their treatment on admission and were told to apply the gel on the base of the denture three times a day for a period of 1 week. In addition, instructions for oral and denture hygiene were prescribed to all patients. DS level was registered initial (day 0), after 1 one week of treatment (day 7) and 7 days after treatment (day 14). The effectiveness of treatment was assessed clinically using Newton’s criteria for severity degree of DS; mycological examination was performed counting colony-forming units per milliliter (CFU/mL) from samples of the palatal mucosa and from the tissue surface or the upper denture. Candida spp. were identified with HiCrome Candida and submitted to the biochemical test API 20 C AUX. Results were statistically evaluated using Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunn’s multiple comparsion test. Clinically it was observed decrease in the severity of DS in all groups (p<0.05). At the mycological examination, significant reduction in number of CFU/ml after one week of treatment (p<0.05) which remained after 14 days (p>0.05) were found in the three groups with no significant difference among the three groups (p < 0.05). It was possible to identifyC. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. glabrata and C. krusei found on the samples of DS patients. Furthermore, it was observed that Uncaria tomentosa gel has the same effect as the antifungal agent.