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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Oral Wounds Heal Slower in Women, Older Adults
Important implications due to increasing surgeries
on older people
 January 31, 2007 - Wounds in the mouth heal more
slowly in women and older adults, a new study at the University of
Illinois at Chicago reveals. The older people in this test were from age
50 through 88.
"While wounds to the skin heal more quickly in
women than in men, our study suggested the opposite is true for healing
of wounds inside the mouth," said Dr. Phillip Marucha, head of
periodontics at the UIC College of Dentistry.
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"We discovered that, regardless of age, men's mouth
wounds heal faster than women's."
Older women were at the highest risk for delayed
healing, their wounds closing half as slowly as younger men, Marucha
said. The findings of the study, he said, could have important
implications for surgical practices.
"There are an increasing number of surgical
procedures being performed in older populations," Marucha said.
"A greater emphasis needs to be placed on
accelerating the healing process. Discovering the reasons behind these
age and sex differences will help us improve treatment, and postsurgical
recovery times may be reduced."
The study consisted of creating a small,
standardized circular wound, half the diameter of a pencil, between the
first and second molar of 212 male and female volunteers aged 18 to 35
years and 50 to 88 years. The wounds were videographed at the same time
for seven consecutive days to assess closure.
Testosterone may help mouth wounds heal faster in
men, said Christopher Engeland, research assistant professor at UIC and
lead author of the study.
"It's a potent anti-inflammatory hormone that is
abundant in saliva," he said.
Women are generally more prone to inflammatory
diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, Engeland said. In skin, women's
wounds heal faster than men's in part because inflammation causes them
to close faster.
"The more inflammation a person has inside the
mouth, the slower wounds appear to heal," Engeland said. "We were
surprised to learn that oral wounds heal more slowly in women than in
men. It's one of the few times in the field of healing where men have an
advantage over women.
"This indicates that the healing process in skin
and mouth tissues is different in some fundamental way not previously
expected."
For more information about UIC, visit
http://www.uic.edu
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