CLINICO-PATHOLOGIC ANALYSIS OF ACTINOMYCES-ASSOCIATED LESIONS OF THE ORAL CAVITY ANDJAW BONES. I. Kaplan,a K. Anavi,b Y. Anavi,a,b D.Schwartz-Arad,b S. Calderon,a,b S. Taicher,b,c and A. Hirsh-berg,b Rabin Medical Center, Petah-Tiqva, Israela; School ofDental Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israelb; Oral Maxillo-facial Surgery, Sheba Medical Center, Israel.c

Objectives. Actinomyces are gram-negative, anaerobic bac-teria that belong to normal oral flora. Cervico-facial actinomy-cosis is well recognized; however, a wide spectrum of otherlesions associated with Actinomyces, which vary significantly intheir clinical and pathological characteristics, can be found in theoral cavity and jawbones, and are not well recognized. Theobjectives of the study were to investigate the clinical, radio-graphic, and microscopic characteristics of oral and maxillofacialActinomyces-associated lesions.

Methods. In a retrospective study, 110 cases in which Acti-nomyces colonies were identified microscopically (1996-2005)have been retrieved. The clinical data, radiographic characteris-tics, and treatment results were analyzed. Histomorphometricanalysis of the number and the surface area of Actinomycescolonies in relation to the total sample surface was performed,and these parameters correlated with clinical data such as periodof antibiotic treatment (ANOVA and Pearson).

Results. There were 49 males and 61 females, aged 3 to 84years, included in the study. Actinomyces colonies have beenidnetified in dental cysts, periodontal lesions, peri-implantitis,postradiation osteomyelitis, bisphosphonates-associated os-teomyelitis, osteomyelitis of other etiologies, in patients withcompromised immune status, and others. An approximately10-fold increase was noted in the number of cases identifiedbetween 1996 and 2005.Lesions involved both soft tissue andbone (70.8%), soft tissue only (20.4%), or bone only (8.8%).A history of dental treatment/oral surgery before onset ofsymptoms was reported in 92% to 100% of the postradiation,bisphosphonates, and compromised immunity groups, with amean of 37.3% for the entire study population. A linearcorrelation was found between the number of colonies and therelative surface parameters. The period of antibiotic treatmentcorrelated with the number and surface of the Actinomycescolonies.

Conclusions. The present work is the largest study so far ofActinomyces-associated lesions of the oral mucosa and jawbones.It has identified a wide spectrum of lesions associated withActinomyces, which differ significantly in their clinical presen-tation, disease course, and treatment needs. Using quantitativeanalysis of the relative number and surface occupied by the Actino-myces colonies in the histological slide, we have been able toshow for the first time that these parameters correlate with theperiod of antibiotic treatment, indicating that the Actinomycescontribute to the disease course and that these parameters have apotential use to predict disease course and outcome.

EFFECTS OF CARBOXYMETHYLCELLULOSE-BASED AR-TIFICIAL SALIVA IN PATIENTS WITH DRY MOUTH.J. Y. Lee, D. J. Oh, H. K. Park, J. W. Chung, Y. K. Kim, andH. S. Kho, Department of Oral Medicine and Oral Diagnosis,School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

Objectives. The purpose of the present study was to assessthe short-term effects of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)-basedartificial saliva on patients with dry mouth using a questionnaire.

Methods. Fifty patients (6 men and 44 women, 57.8 � 13.2years) with a chief complaint of dry mouth were enrolled. Eachpatient was asked a series of questions concerning dry mouth.Questions were about oral dryness at night or on awakening(Dry-PM), at other times of the day (Dry-day), or during eating(Dry-eat); difficulty in swallowing food (Dif-swal); amount ofsaliva in usual everyday life (Am-sal); and the effect of oraldryness on daily life (Eff-life). The severities of symptoms wereevaluated by VAS. Unstimulated whole saliva (UWS) was col-lected by the spitting method. Stimulated whole saliva (SWS)was collected by chewing gum base as a stimulant. After usingCMC-based artificial saliva for 2 weeks, the same questionnairewas given to each patient. Wilcoxon signed rank test was per-formed to evaluate the changes of subjective symptoms after useof artificial saliva. Repeated measures analysis of variance wasperformed to evaluate the relationship between the effects ofartificial saliva and severity of dry mouth assessed by salivaryflow rate.

Results. Among the questions, the severities of Dry-PM,Dry-day, and Eff-life were significantly decreased after usingartificial saliva (P � .05), although the final VAS values werestill higher than 6.0. When the subjects were divided into 2groups according to flow rates of UWS or SWS, the subjects withundetectable flow rate of UWS showed greater positive effect inDry-day (P � .05) compared with the other subjects. The sub-jects with undetectable flow rate of SWS showed greater positiveeffect in Dry-eat (P � .05).

Conclusions. From these results, it can be concluded thatCMC-based artificial saliva showed moderate effects in reducingdry mouth–related symptoms and the effects were associatedwith the severity of dry mouth.

This study was supported by a grant from the Korea Health21 R&D Project, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic ofKorea, A050054.

IN SITU HYBRIDIZATION FOR HPV IN DRUG-IN-DUCED GINGIVAL OVERGROWTH IN RENAL TRANS-PLANT PATIENTS. M. Magalhães, S. Alves-Júnior, M.Treiveiller, K. Ortega, and N. Rezende, Department of OralPathology, School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo,Brazil.

Objectives. Severe cases of cyclosporin-induced gingivalovergrowth (GO) have been associated with the presence ofHPV, attributable to its clinical characteristics such as the pap-illomatous surface and poor response to periodontal treatment.The objectives of this study were to identify HPV in GO andcorrelate plaque score, presence of calculus, GO score, and GOclinical aspects with the presence of HPV.

Material and Methods. We examined 15 renal transplantpatients (RTP) under dental treatment at Special Care DentistryCenter, School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo. We col-lected demographic data, medical history, drugs in use, anddental history. We identified plaque score; GO score; GO clinicalcharacteristics, such as surface, color, brightness, and consis-tency; and presence of calculus. GO was removed and sent to theOral Pathology Laboratory. Histopathologic diagnosis was estab-lished on the basis of widely accepted criteria, and the specimenswere compared to a control group composed of 20 cases ofinflammatory gingival hyperplasia from the archives of the OralPathology Department, randomly selected. Both groups weresubmitted to routine examination emphasizing the presence of

OOOOE790 Abstracts June 2007