Expression of contact allergy in undergoing prosthodontic therapy patients with oral diseases

Contact allergy is a postponed reaction of hypersensitivity where a localised cutaneous or mucosal lesion occurs due to a recurrent contact with an allergen. Placement of a fixed or removable prosthetic replacement into the oral cavity causes corrosive processes on the surface of the restoration and discharge of ions, which as haptens can induce allergic reactions. The purpose of this study was to examine occurrence of allergies to basic and auxiliary restorative dental materials in patients with lichen, stomatitis and stomatopyrosis by means of an epicutaneous allergy test.

The study included 32 patients with a fixed and/or removable replacement and 7 patients with one of the mentioned diagnoses, but without any replacement. Testing was conducted using a standard method (patch test), and hypersensitivity to 13 most common allergens in prosthodontics was examined.

The research results revealed higher frequency of positive allergic reactions in persons with the mentioned diseases and with a restoration. Patients with lichen indicated positive patch test in the majority of cases. The allergens of nickel, cobalt and chromium demonstrated the highest score of positive results, and negative score was found for dibutylphthalate and HH mix. Stomatopyrosis was more common in persons with hypersensitivity to chromium. A lower incidence of positive allergic reactions to epoxide resins was found in female than in male subjects.

The epicutaneous (patch) test performed in the subjects examined in this study, showed that the majority of positive reactions was caused by mixes of nickel, cobalt and chromium; however, unwanted reactions also to other auxiliary materials used in dental practice should also be considered.