Evidence of earlier thyroid dysfunction in newly diagnosed oral lichen planus patients: a hint for endocrinologists

Abstract

The association between oral lichen planus (OLP) and hypothyroidism has been debated with conflicting results: some authors detected a statistically significant association between these two, while others did not confirm it. The aim of this study was to evaluate the thyroid status in patients with newly diagnosed OLP to test the null hypothesis that thyroid disease is not associated with an increased incidence of oral lesions, with a prospective case-control approach. A total of 549 patients have been evaluated, of whom 355 were female. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained. Patients suffering from thyroid diseases were associated with an almost 3-fold increased odds of having OLP (OR 2.85, 95% CI: 1.65–4.94), after adjusting this analysis for age, gender, body mass index, smoking status, diabetes, hypertension and hepatitis C infection. It would be appropriate to further investigate the possible concomitance of OLP among patients with thyroid disorder; endocrinologists should be aware of this association, especially because OLP is considered a potentially malignant oral disorder.

Association between oral lichen planus and systemic conditions and medications: Case–control study

“…The histologic slides and patient histories were reviewed to confirm that the diagnosis of OLP was based on following criteria: (a) clinical presence of characteristic bilateral lesions; (b) histological presence of a well‐defined band‐like lymphocytic infiltrate restricted to the superficial connective tissue along with the presence of liquefactive degeneration and lymphocytic exocytosis; (c) absence of signs of epithelial dysplasia; and (d) absence of suspicion that oral lesions may be related to any drug or oral restoration. These criteria are similar to those utilized by Arduino et al (2017). Subjects also needed to have a complete medical history form filled out on their electronic medical records.…”

The Correlation between Oral Lichen Planus and Thyroid Pathologies: A Retrospective Study in a Sample of Italian Population

“…However, immunological changes have been detected in this condition as well: such as an increase in the number of dendritic cells and circulating lymphocytes, and the production of inflammatory mediators, such as IL-6 and TNF-α, also involved in the pathogenesis of the OLP. 1 Several other studies have found no significant association between OLP and TD, including hypothyroidism and HT, but this data was derived from retrospective studies in which OLP diagnosis was not always carried out histologically. [23][24][25] In addition, in a study conducted in an Iranian court, beyond the lack of histological confirmation, also genetic and ethnic idiosyncrasies may have played a role in the results.…”

Association between oral lichen planus and Hashimoto thyroiditis: A systematic review

“…Five studies were included (Brzak et al, 2020; Cankovic et al, 2016; Dave et al, 2021; Karimi et al, 2017; Zhou et al, 2018) (Figure 1), all considering OLP as “exposure” and HT as “outcome” ( FQa ). No studies were retrieved to answer FQb .…”