Title: Erosive oral lichen planus and its relevance to Helicobacter pylori infection
Abstract:
Oral lichen planus(OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease, which belongs to precancerous condition by WHO’s classification and erosive lesions of OLP is more likely to undergo malignant transformation by repeated stimulations in virtue of bacteria,fungi etc. Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection in gastrointestinal tract is widely accepted as the major risk factor for atrophic gastritis, gastric ulcer and gastric cancer. Oral cavity has been proposed as another main reservoir for Hp. While Hp colonization could be detected in dental plaque, ulcer and saliva and erosive lesions of OLP has similar histopathological structure with ulcers in gastrointestinal tract, so we hypothesized that oral Hp may play a role in the pathogenesis of erosive OLP as that in the gastrointestinal tract and is correlated with the severity of erosive OLP.
