Effects of metformin on oral lesions

Abstract

Metformin is a biguanide antidiabetic drug used to treat type 2 diabetes. It has a beneficial effect on insulin resistance, but it also reduces the oncogenetic effect of tumor cells at several points of attack, reducing oxidative stress and the body’s inflammatory reactions. In our study, we sought to answer the question, based on a review of the literature, on whether and in what way metformin affects oral lesions. From our PubMed and Google Scholar database, 26 studies form the basis of our publication, primarily reporting on the effects of metformin on periodontitis and head and neck malignancies and discussing the association between these diseases and diabetes. In clinical trials of several years, non-diabetic patients with chronic periodontitis showed that topical administration of 1% metformin improved patients’ inflammatory reactions and reduced bone loss. In diabetic patients, systemic administration of metformin had a beneficial effect on periodontal status. When metformin is administered systemically, it reduces the oncogenetic effect of tumor cells via various signaling pathways. Publications have shown that systemically administered metformin also reduces the incidence of malignancies in head and neck tumor patients, increases the efficacy of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and improves tumor survival in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Several authors suggest the use of metformin as a complementary treatment to support traditional cancer therapies.

Keywords

• metformin
• periodontitis
• head and neck cancer