Abstract
Viral and fungal infections, autoimmune conditions, immunodeficiency, drug reactions, contact allergy, and trauma all can precipitate punctate oral lesions. Herpetic lesions must be distinguished from aphthous ulcers, which lack a preliminary vesicular phase and have a more intense erythematous halo; herpetic lesions tend to occur in clusters and involve the fixed mucosa. Extremely large aphthous ulcers that persist for several weeks or months can mimic a carcinoma; biopsy is indicated. Because of their rarity in immunocompetent persons, fungal and cytomegalovirus infections in the oral cavity are clinical markers for AIDS. Drug-induced oral lesions can be diagnosed on the basis of the drug and medical history and a complete blood cell count; lesions usually appear when the white blood cell count falls below 2000/μL. Eosinophilic ulcers are reactive lesions in the oral cavity that are deep and generally larger than 1.5 cm, with indurated borders; biopsy is essential to rule out carcinoma.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 669-678 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Consultant |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| State | Published - Oct 2012 |
Keywords
- Acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis
- Aphthous stomatitis
- Behçet's syndrome
- Cytomegalovirus infection
- Gingivostomatitis
- Hand-foot-and-mouth disease
- Herpangina
- Herpes simplex virus type 1
- Herpes simplex virus type 2
- Herpes zoster
- Punctate lesion
- Pyostomatitis vegetans
- Reiter's syndrome