Surgical site infections in oral and maxillofacial interventions are often exacerbated by biofilm formation, and current antimicrobial treatments are hampered by issues such as resistance and adverse effects. This article aimed to develop, characterize, and evaluate the antimicrobial activity of Lippia sidoides Cham. essential oil (LSEO) gel composed of poloxamer (P) and chitosan (C). Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis identified thymol as the major component of LSEO (71.04%). In situ P-gels containing LSEO (0.25–1.0%) were produced with and without C. The addition of C resulted in gels with nanometric particle sizes (263.8 ± 231 nm; PDI 0.39 ± 0.17) and a positive zeta potential (+4.81 ± 1.97 a + 8.19 ± 0.51 mV), exhibiting pseudoplastic behavior in rheological analysis. The sol–gel transition temperature (Tsol–gel) was found to be between 20 and 28 °C, with a transition time at 37 °C ranging from 18.76 ± 1.24 s to 46.46 ± 8.89 s. LSEO showed MIC values of 256, 128, and 128 µg/mL against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Candida albicans, respectively, while in situ LSEO gels presented MIC values above 5 µg/mL for all tested strains. Therefore, the developed gel containing LSEO showed promising application in dentistry, offering a potential new treatment perspective for surgical site infections in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is a renewable and biodegradable polymer that has attracted considerable attention for sustainable packaging applications. However, its inherent brittleness limits its use in flexible films. In this study, PLA/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) blend films were prepared by a single-solvent-casting rout at PLA/PVA weight ratios of 80/20, 70/30, 60/40, and 50/50 to investigate the influence of composition on their thermal, chemical, morphological, mechanical, optical, and water vapor barrier properties. Increasing the PVA content progressively modified the molecular organization of the system, the crystallization ability of the PLA phase and promoting a more homogeneous phase distribution. These structural changes resulted in a transition from a brittle behavior to increasingly ductile films, with the PLA/PVA 50/50 composition exhibiting the most favorable combination of tensile toughness, transparency, and morphological homogeneity, reaching an elongation at break of approximately 60%. In contrast, the increase in the hydrophilic phase led to higher water vapor permeability, highlighting the trade-off between mechanical performance and moisture barrier properties. Overall, the results demonstrate that controlling the PLA/PVA ratio provides an effective strategy for tailoring the morphology and functional properties of solvent-cast PLA/PVA films, contributing to a better understanding of the composition–structure–property relationships in biopolymer blends.