EFFICACY OF GARLIC IN CONJUNCTION WITH PENTOXIFYLLINE IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ORAL SUBMUCOUS FIBROSIS – A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Introduction and Objectives: Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a chronic, progressive, and irreversible disease of the oral mucosa. Though numerous modalities have been tried but all are palliative and have no curative value. Pentoxifylline possessing vasorelaxive and antifibrotic properties believed to potentiate the anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and immune modulating properties of garlic. So, the present preliminary clinical trial was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of Garlic in conjunction with pentoxifylline in the management of OSMF. Methods: The study consisted of 15 OSMF patients. Pentoxifylline (400 mg) was administered thrice daily along with garlic pearls, 2 pearls; thrice daily. Drugs were administered systemically after food for a duration of 3 months. Patients were evaluated every 15 days for the assessment of clinical parameters, i.e. burning sensation, reduction in mouth opening, tongue protrusion and cheek flexibility. Pre and post treatment SOD level were measured and compared. The improvement was assessed at the end of the study. Results: All the patients were males with the mean age of 26.04 years. Patients exhibited a mean reduction of 95.68% in burning sensation and an increment of 5.37 mm in mouth opening. The cheek flexibility and tongue protrusion also showed significant improvements in the study groups. All the patients showed significant (p > 0.001) improvement in SOD levels following treatment. Conclusion: Overall assessment of the all clinico-biochemical parameters showed a significant improvement. Thus, choice of such therapy is beneficial, affordable, easily available and most importantly a non-invasive treatment modality for OSMF.