The effect honey mouth wash in the prevention of head and neck radiotherapy induced – mucositis

  Introduction: mouthwash helps prevent and treat mucositis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of honey mouthwash in the prevention mucositis due to head and neck radiotherapy

  Materials and Method: In this clinical trial, single blind study, 80 patients with head and neck radiotherapy who attended in radiotherapy ward in Shafa Hospital, Kerman, 1389, was investigated. Applying simple sampling technique, the cases were selected and randomly divided into two groups of control and experiment. The experiment group (N=40) would gurgle 5 spoons of honey mouthwash after tooth brushing, and control group (40) used water as mouthwash. In this 14-day study, subjects' mouths were examined regarding mucositis, based on WHO grading scale on the 1st, 7th, and 14th days. Data were then analyzed applying SPSS, v.16 and employing Fisher exact test, and Mann-Whitney test.

  Results: In the experiment group, in the units under study the severity of mucositis was mild in the first day (42.9%) and lacking mucositis in both the 7th (62.8%) and 14th (68.6%) days. In the control group, the severity was mild in the 1st day (29.5%) in the most units under study, and was mild and moderate in the 7th (29.4%) and 14th (32.4%) days, respectively. There was a significant difference between 2 groups regarding mucositis intensity in the first, seventh & fourteenth days (P<0.000).

  Conclusion: Since mucositis can be easily prevented by using mouthwash, honey mouthwash can be applied to prevent mucositis and reduce its intensity in head and neck-radiotherapy units.