Effective decontamination of soft reline-based oral cancer obturators by means of cold atmospheric plasma

摘要

Severe oral cancer might require patients to undergo surgical removal of soft tissues of the oral cavity; in order to replace these tissues, patients are required to wear removable oral palatal obturators, generally patient custom-made, as it is necessary to mold as much as possible the prosthesis to the lacking tissue. Among the large number of materials suitable for this purpose, soft reline holds a relevant position since it is easily moldable and possesses, thanks to its sponge-like return, the mechanical characteristics required to sustain the typical values of the compressive oral forces. Unfortunately, because of the sophistication of the raw material and the custom-made production process, soft reline oral palatal obturators are very expensive. Therefore, an eventual implant failure might be severely resource-(because of the implants cost) and time-(because of the long production process) consuming, prompting the desire for novel means for limiting implant failures, which are primarily caused by severe bacteria biofilm contaminations. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) processes represent a very promising strategy to decontaminate soft reline shutters, given its strong antibacterial potential, related to the killing activity of the several and synergic biologically active agents.