Journal of Clinical Research & Bioethics

Abstract

A Comparative Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Turmeric Mouth Wash versus Saline Mouth Wash on Treatment Induced Oral Mucositis (Tiom) in a Selected Hospital at Mangalore

Steven Peter Saldanha and Victoria D Almeida

Oral mucositis is the most common, debilitating complication of cancer treatments. Chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy will interfere with the normal turnover of epithelial, cells leading to mucosal injury. The care of these patients includes the regular use of an effective mouth wash periodically. The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin which protects healthy cells from harmful effects of radiation and chemotherapy. Salt mouthwash can soothe the pain and keep food particles clear so as to avoid infection. The study made use of a two group pre-test post-test time series design to determine the effectiveness of Turmeric and Saline mouth wash on TIOM. A purposive random sampling was used and mouth wash was given three times daily for 5 days. The oral mucosa of the patients was assessed using an Oral Mucositis assessment checklist and pain using pain scale every morning before the intervention and evening after the intervention. There was a significant difference in the score of TIOM between pre-intervention on Day 1 morning and post intervention score on day 5 evening in turmeric and saline group but on comparison it was found that turmeric mouth wash was effective than saline mouth in all the days except in Day 3 where there was no significant difference found. Both the mouth wash were individually effective but on comparison turmeric mouth wash was better than saline mouth wash.