Green tea relieves erosive, atrophic, and ulcerative lesions in patients with oral lichen planus: a pilot clinical trial study

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disease of stratified squamous epithelium. Numerous treatment approaches have been introduced for the treatment of OLP, but there is no substantial evidence to support the effectiveness of these methods. Green tea is a popular drink widely used to relief and treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The present pilot study aimed to investigate the effect of green tea tablets on OLP.

In this pilot clinical trial study, we recruited 10 patients (48.1 ± 12.44 years old) with erosive and atrophic OLP from Western Azerbaijan, Urmia, in Iran. All patients received a green tea tablet (450 mg) daily for one month. The patients were monitored and followed up for pain severity scale with a visual analog scale (VAS), lesion size, and number of lesions. Finally, the collected data were examined using statistical software.

The mean of VAS score before intervention was 4.1 ± 2.02, whereas it was 2.2 ± 2.25 at the end of the intervention. Statistical analysis indicated the decreased VAS score after 30 days of tablet consumption (p < 0.001). Moreover, lesion number and size were markedly decreased in patients after 30 days of tablet consumption. However, no complete recovery was observed in patients after 30 days.

Our study indicates that using green tea tablets could be an effective and complementary therapy for patients with erosive, inflammatory, and atrophic lesions. However, further studies are required to investigate green tea tablets efficiency in long-term usage.