Clinical evaluation of the essential oil of Pelargonium graveolens for the treatment of denture stomatitis

BACKGROUND: Natural products are proved to play a good role as an alternative to synthetic chemicals in clinical conditions. Previous studies showed that Pelargonium graveolens has anti-inflammatory and antifungal activity against Candida albicans. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of essential oil of Pelargonium graveolens in the treatment of denture stomatitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this double-blind randomized clinical trial conducted in Isfahan (Iran), 80 (51 females and 29 males) eligible wearers of complete denture were included. According to the patients’ profiles number, they randomly divided to 2 groups of 40 patients’ case and 40 patients control treated with Pelargonium 1% gel or placebo, respectively. They were recommended to apply the gel twice daily for a 14-day course. All data were analyzed using SPSS(®) for windows (v.18). We have used the χ(2) test for analyzing qualitative and Student t-test for quantitative data considering as P<0.05 as significant. RESULTS: According to mycological data and clinical observation after treatment in the case group, 34% of patients had been improved completely, 56% partially and 10% had no improvement. In the control group, 5% of patients had complete recovery, 25% partial recovery, and 70% no improvement. A significant reduction in fungal growth was observed in case group rather than the control group (P value<0.0001). CONCLUSION: It seems that the application of a 1% Geranium oil topical gel formulation is more effective than placebo in the treatment of denture stomatitis.