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Green tea tablets for erosive oral lichen planus

Posted , 4 users are following.

john71813
john71813

Hi. Anyone else had success with this. I read it can help prevent t-cell activation and limit enzyme tissue breakdown. I have taken betnesol mouthwash for many years, and continue this (2x 0.5 mg crushed between my teeth and kept in my mouth for at least 10 mins twice daily). This has only partly controlled things. I found that H&B green tea tablets (I do take 3-5 x the dose they recommend) has helped a lot; it also works topically though can cause some superficial teeth staining. I either hold a tablet against an ulcer, or simply let a tablet disolve in my mouth while using my steroid mouthwash (avoiding chewing as the glue and grit in the tablet is unpleasant). The improvement has been remarkable though didn't all come quickly - wish I had come across this 20 years ago!

1 like, 8 replies

8 Replies

  • sweetsingeruk
    sweetsingeruk john71813

    Posted

    I've just ordered some, I'll let you know how it goes! Thank you so much for sharing this smile
    • sweetsingeruk
      sweetsingeruk

      Posted

      Hi again, just to let you know this is really good for flare-ups! My mouth feels cooler and my gums are less tender when I use the tablets. I hold one directly on the sore bit and after a little discomfort, my mouth gets used to it. It does feel a little dry and gritty, but that's a small price to pay for the relief it brings! smile
  • seagal
    seagal john71813

    Posted

    I drink 4-5 cups of green tea per day and it has not helped my OLP.
    • john71813
      john71813 seagal

      Posted

      If "600 milligrams of green tea catechins daily is equivalent to 12-15 cups of green tea infusion" then the 3-5 750mg tabs I take a day is quite a lot more than you take as tea (and the caffeine is much less so I don't have problems sleeping - but I do take the whole dose in the morning. There has been concern about high doses causing liver problems in an animal study, but on the other hand green tea should cut my oral cancer risk from 1:300 to maybe 1:400. Keeping the tablet in my mouth for a while, or held near an ulcer - without swallowing - does also seem to help.
  • jason05355
    jason05355 john71813

    Posted

    Hi John- i just started taking green tea extract. are you suggested applying this topically or rinsing with it?
    • john71813
      john71813 jason05355

      Posted

      Hi. You can hold a tablet against an ulcer for a while, or use it as a gritty mouthwash.
  • john71813
    john71813

    Posted

    Hi. I started taking Holland & Barrett tablets 750mg tablets about 2 years ago. They recommend no more than one tablet a day, but I started on 3 taken together in the morning. I based this on clinical trials trying grean tea for various conditions e.g. http://jn.nutrition.org/content/139/1/58.short - I do sometimes push the dose up to 5 a day when I have ulcers. I was getting to the point (after 25 years) where I thought there might be some hope of total remission, things were so good; then in May I had a relapse after a viral sore throat. Oral steroids only helped temporarily. I then tried keeping a tablet in my mouth near a particularly bad ulcer and this took the pain away and it healed after a few days (before using green tea ulcers often lasted for weeks to months). The tablets are not nice if you chew them, but not too bad if you let them crumble gradually. I now use mixed topical and oral to answer your question.
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