==== Front Med Gas ResMed Gas ResMGRMedical Gas Research2045-9912Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd India MGR-8-7210.4103/2045-9912.235140Letter to the EditorClinical utility of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in dentistry Shamim Thorakkal BDS, MDShttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-6389-5417*Department of Dentistry, Government Taluk Head Quarters Hospital, Malappuram, Kerala, India* Correspondence to: Thorakkal Shamim, shamu3duad@gmail.com. Apr-Jun 2018 03 7 2018 8 2 72 72 Copyright: © 2018 Medical Gas Research2018This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. ==== Body Dear Editor, I read with great interest the article Clinical utility of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in genitourinary medicine by Gandhi et al.1 in Medical Gas Research. I would like to suggest clinical utility of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in dentistry with emphasis on recent studies done on necrotizing fasciitis, wound dehiscence after intraoral bone grafting in the nonirradiated patients, osteoradionecrosis of mandible and oral submucous fibrosis. It was evident from a case series study conducted at Australia that hyperbaric oxygen therapy has an additional role in the management of necrotizing fasciitis as a complication of odontogenic infection in medically complex patients.2 It was evident from a case series study conducted at Denmark that hyperbaric oxygen may only be optional in head and neck necrotizing fasciitis.3 Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be an effective adjunctive therapy in the treatment of nonirradiated patients with wound dehiscence due to chronic maxillary sinus problems or traumatic episode after intraoral bone grafting.4 Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be recommended for stage I and II osteoradionecrosis and for selected cases of stage III osteoradionecrosis (staging of osteonecrosis based on the classification of Notani et al.).5 The Division of Head and Neck Oncology of Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, USA does not recommend the routine use of hyberbaric oxygen therapy for the prevention or management of osteoradionecrosis and they recommend adjunctive hyberbaric oxygen therapy in exceptionally high risk cases where there is failed history of conservative therapy and subsequent surgical resection.6 Hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a therapeutic remedy in oral submucous fibrosis is underscored by increasing oxygen tension in oxygen-deficient tissue superadded with potent anti-inflammatory action.78 Copyright transfer agreement: The Copyright License Agreement has been signed by the author before publication. Plagiarism check: Checked twice by iThenticate. Peer review: Externally peer reviewed. Open peer reviewer: Nemoto Edwin, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, USA. ==== Refs REFERENCES 1 Gandhi J Seyam O Smith NL Joshi G Vatsia S Khan SA Clinical utility of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in genitourinary medicine Med Gas Res 2018 8 29 33 29770194 2 Bayetto K Cheng A Sambrook P Necrotizing fasciitis as a complication of odontogenic infection: a review of management and case series Aust Dent J 2017 62 317 322 28241379 3 Fauno Thrane J Pikelis A Ovesen T Hyperbaric oxygen may only be optional in head and neck necrotizing fasciitis: a retrospective analysis of 43 cases and review of the literature Infect Dis (Lond) 2017 49 792 798 28644692 4 Hollander MHJ Boonstra O Timmenga NM Schortinghuis J Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for wound dehiscence after intraoral bone grafting in the nonirradiated patient: A Case Series J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2017 75 2334 2339 28784587 5 Dieleman FJ Phan TTT van den Hoogen FJA Kaanders J Merkx MAW The efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy related to the clinical stage of osteoradionecrosis of the mandible Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2017 46 428 433 28043745 6 Sultan A Hanna GJ Margalit DN The use of hyperbaric oxygen for the prevention and management of osteoradionecrosis of the jaw: a Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center multidisciplinary guideline Oncologist 2017 22 343 350 28209748 7 Kumar MA Radhika B Gollamudi N Reddy SP Yaga US Hyperbaric oxygen therapy-a novel treatment modality in oral submucous fibrosis: a review J Clin Diagn Res 2015 9 ZE01 04 8 Sharma M Radhakrishnan R Limited mouth opening in oral submucous fibrosis: reasons, ramifications, and remedies J Oral Pathol Med 2017 46 424 430 27743497