Patients who underwent head and neck radiotherapy and developed xerostomia and/or hyposalivation will be selected. The patients will be randomly assigned into two groups, defined as control and treatment. All patients will complete the xerostomia-related quality of life questionnaires, XeQoLS (Xerostomia Quality of Life Scale) and OHIP (Oral Health Impact Profile). This qualitative assessment will be repeated 1 week after the 6th application and 1 week after the 12th application (T0, T6, and T12). The quantitative assessment will be carried out through the collection of unstimulated and stimulated saliva at the same time points (T0, T6, and T12). Patients will undergo 12 sessions of ozone therapy, once a week, in gaseous form, at a concentration of 10 µg/mL (micrograms per milliliter), applied directly into the major salivary glands. The gas will be administered as follows: * Parotid glands: two distinct points per gland, 1 mL at each point. * Submandibular glands: one point per gland, 1 mL per point at 10 µg/mL. * Sublingual glands: one point per gland, 1 mL per point at 10 µg/mL. The ozone generator equipment will be supplied with medical oxygen (99.5% purity), Dental model, Philozon company. Disposable syringes will be Terumo, 10 mL, and the needle will be BD, 30/13 mm.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
100
Experimental: Ozone Therapy Ozone gas will be applied as follows: * Parotid glands: two distinct points per gland, 1 mL at each point (10 µg/mL). The anatomical reference will be the parotid region, located anterior and inferior to the external ear. * Submandibular glands: one point per gland, 1 mL at 10 µg/mL. The anatomical reference will be the mandibular base, anterior to the angle, considering its inner aspect. * Sublingual glands: one point per gland, 1 mL at 10 µg/mL. The anatomical reference will be the region of the lower lateral incisor, lingual aspect, punctured through the floor of the mouth mucosa, adjacent to the lingual surface of the mandibular bone. The ozone generator (Dental model, Philozon, Brazil) will be supplied with medical oxygen (99.5% purity).
Salivary flow
The assessment of unstimulated salivary flow will be conducted according to the technique described by Kogawa et al., 2016. The patient will receive a sterile vial, keep the body slightly leaning forward, place the vial touching the lower lip, and allow saliva to flow into the vial spontaneously for 5 minutes. The unit of measurement will be in microliters.
Time frame: Time 0 weeks
Salivary flow
The assessment of unstimulated salivary flow will be conducted according to the technique described by Kogawa et al., 2016. The patient will receive a sterile vial, keep the body slightly leaning forward, place the vial touching the lower lip, and allow saliva to flow into the vial spontaneously for 5 minutes. The unit of measurement will be in microliters.
Time frame: time 6 weeks
Salivary Flow
The assessment of unstimulated salivary flow will be conducted according to the technique described by Kogawa et al., 2016. The patient will receive a sterile vial, keep the body slightly leaning forward, place the vial touching the lower lip, and allow saliva to flow into the vial spontaneously for 5 minutes. The unit of measurement will be in microliters.
Time frame: 12 week
Salivary flow
The assessment of stimulated salivary flow will be conducted according to the technique described by Kogawa et al., 2016. The patient will receive a sterile vial, keep the body slightly leaning forward, place the vial touching the lower lip, and allow saliva to flow into the vial spontaneously for 5 minutes. Stimulated saliva will be collected using the same procedure, preceded by chewing a piece of silicone for 1 minute. The unit of measurement will be in microliters.
Time frame: Time 0 weeks
Salivary flow
The assessment of stimulated salivary flow will be conducted according to the technique described by Kogawa et al., 2016. The patient will receive a sterile vial, keep the body slightly leaning forward, place the vial touching the lower lip, and allow saliva to flow into the vial spontaneously for 5 minutes. Stimulated saliva will be collected using the same procedure, preceded by chewing a piece of silicone for 1 minute. The unit of measurement will be in microliters.
Time frame: Time 6 weeks
Salivary flow
The assessment of stimulated salivary flow will be conducted according to the technique described by Kogawa et al., 2016. The patient will receive a sterile vial, keep the body slightly leaning forward, place the vial touching the lower lip, and allow saliva to flow into the vial spontaneously for 5 minutes. Stimulated saliva will be collected using the same procedure, preceded by chewing a piece of silicone for 1 minute. The unit of measurement will be in microliters.
Time frame: Time 12 weeks
Xerostomia-Related Quality of Life Scale (XeQoLS)
The Xerostomia-Related Quality of Life Scale (XeQoLS) consists of 15 items, each scored from 0 to 4 according to the severity of xerostomia impact. The final score is calculated as the mean of all items, resulting in a total score ranging from 0 to 4, where 0 indicates no impact and 4 indicates maximum impact. Higher scores indicate worse xerostomia-related quality of life.
Time frame: time 0 weeks
Xerostomia-Related Quality of Life Scale (XeQoLS)
The Xerostomia-Related Quality of Life Scale (XeQoLS) consists of 15 items, each scored from 0 to 4 according to the severity of xerostomia impact. The final score is calculated as the mean of all items, resulting in a total score ranging from 0 to 4, where 0 indicates no impact and 4 indicates maximum impact. Higher scores indicate worse xerostomia-related quality of life.
Time frame: time 6 weeks
Xerostomia-Related Quality of Life Scale (XeQoLS)
The Xerostomia-Related Quality of Life Scale (XeQoLS) consists of 15 items, each scored from 0 to 4 according to the severity of xerostomia impact. The final score is calculated as the mean of all items, resulting in a total score ranging from 0 to 4, where 0 indicates no impact and 4 indicates maximum impact. Higher scores indicate worse xerostomia-related quality of life.
Time frame: time 12 weeks
Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14)
The Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) is a validated questionnaire consisting of 14 items assessing the impact of oral health on quality of life. Each item is scored from 0 to 4 based on frequency of impact (0 = never, 1 = hardly ever, 2 = occasionally, 3 = fairly often, 4 = very often). The total score is calculated as the sum of all items, ranging from 0 to 56, with higher scores indicating worse oral health-related quality of life.
Time frame: time 0 weeks
Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14)
The Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) is a validated questionnaire consisting of 14 items assessing the impact of oral health on quality of life. Each item is scored from 0 to 4 based on frequency of impact (0 = never, 1 = hardly ever, 2 = occasionally, 3 = fairly often, 4 = very often). The total score is calculated as the sum of all items, ranging from 0 to 56, with higher scores indicating worse oral health-related quality of life.
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Time frame: time 6 weeks
Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14)
The Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) is a validated questionnaire consisting of 14 items assessing the impact of oral health on quality of life. Each item is scored from 0 to 4 based on frequency of impact (0 = never, 1 = hardly ever, 2 = occasionally, 3 = fairly often, 4 = very often). The total score is calculated as the sum of all items, ranging from 0 to 56, with higher scores indicating worse oral health-related quality of life.
Time frame: time 12 weeks