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Dietary components have proven to be important aetiological factors in orofacial sensitivity reactions such as plasma cell gingivitis and orofacial granulomatosis. The use of elimination diets to identify these dietary antigens can be instrumental in both diagnosis and effective treatment for these disorders.

Wood (cellulose and lignin)-based hydrogels were successfully produced as platforms for drug-release systems. Viscoelastic and cross-linking behaviors of precursor solutions were tuned to produce highly porous hydrogel architectures via freeze-drying. Pore sizes in the range of 100–160 μm were obtained. Varying lignin molecular structure played a key role in tailoring swelling and mechanical performance of these gels with organosolv-type lignin showing optimum properties due to its propensity for intermolecular cross-linking, achieving a compressive modulus around 11 kPa. Paracetamol was selected as a standard drug for release tests and its release rate was improved with the presence of lignin (50% more compared to pure cellulose hydrogels). This was attributed to a reduction in molecular interactions between paracetamol and cellulose. These results highlight the potential for the valorization of lignin as a platform for drug-release systems.

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