Internal Medicine & Patient Care

Biography

Cristian Funieru completed his PhD from “Carol Davila” University of Bucharest, Romania in 2010. He is Assistant Professor at Preventive Dentistry Department from “Carol Davila” Bucharest School of Dental Medicine and a specialist in oral surgery. He has published more than 28 papers in medical and dentistry journals (4 in PubMed).

Abstract

The association between oral lichen planus (OLP) and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) has been reported for several times but many details remain unclear. One hypothesis considers that HT antibodies could be the trigger for the autoimmune mechanism responsible for OLP lesions. Our study has as main role to analyse if there is any relation between OLP and HT in a group of Romanian patients. 211 medical records of OLP patients who addressed to the Department of Oral Medicine from Bucharest “Carol Davila” School of Dental Medicine between 2015 and 2017 were analysed in this study. It has been selected 99 patients who meet the OLP diagnostic WHO criteria (1978) modified by Meij and van der Waal in 2003 and they were tested for anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies (ATPO). 30% of them were diagnosed with HT, the level of ATPO antibodies being higher than normal. 62% of OLP lesions associated with HT were symptomatic, patients complaining of local pain, burning sensation of oral mucosa and slight discomfort. The most common clinical form of OLP found in this study among patients with HT was the associated form (keratotic and atrophic lesions), followed by keratotic, ulcerative and atrophic forms OLP. As conclusion, it would seem to exist a link between OLP and HT that makes oral lesions and their symptoms more evident and severe.