Oral Ulceration Flashcards
What is an ulceration
An ulceration is the loss or erosion of the mucous membrane layer
How does an apthous ulcer look?
Yellow fibrinous base, surrounding erythematous halo
Why is there no standard tx for oral ulceration?
degree of morbidity of ulcer varies from pt to pt and episode to episode - tx is tailored to pt
What advice can we give to pt who has ulcer that wants us to see it?
take picture - ulcer may be gone when they visit us but this allows us to see lesion
What are the causes of oral ulceration? (5)
Trauma
Immunological
Carcinoma
Infections
GI causes
What falls under immunological ulceration?
Apthous ulcers
lichen Planus
lupus
vesicle-bullous
erythema muliforme
What infections can cause oral ulceration?
Bacterial
Fungal
Viral
What GI conditions can cause ulcerations?
Crohns
UC
What is the difference between crohns and UC?
Chrons disease can affect the full thickness of the GI tract - most commonly small and large intestine but anywhere from mouth to anus
UC affects/causes inflammation in the lining of the large intestine(colon and rectum)
What history do we ask a pt with ulcer?
Where is the ulcer?
What size is the ulcer?
What shape is the ulcer?
Does the ulcer begin as a blister and then bursts to produce ulcer? or is it always just been an ulcer?
How long does ulcer last for? - when did it begin (can last several weeks or months if ulcer episode but individual ulcer should last 2 weeks or less if aphthous ulcer)
Does the ulcer recur in same site?
are u having discomfort?
What do we ask the pt with regards to whether ulcer is recurrent or not?
We want to determine if the ulcers recur?
and if they recur do they recur in same place
What would be a sign the ulcer is caused by lichen Planus?
If oral ulceration occurs in same site every time - lichen planus doesn’t move
What would be a sign ulcer is just a apthous ulcer?
Moves location - diff areas of mucosa depending on trigger factors
What must we determine with regards to duration of ulcer?
How long pts ulcer free period is - how long they go with no ulcer? - this tells us how inconvenient condition is
What do we look at with regards to the margin of an ulcer?
Is the margins
FLAT
RAISED
ROLLED - if rolled, or irregular rather than well defined margins this is more sus
What do we look at in terms of the base of an ulcer?
is it soft? - good sign its nothing nasty
hard?
is it firm and hard?
is it fixed in position?
keratotic - in traumatic ulcer
What do we check in ulcer surrounding tissue?
We look for inflammation or normal mucosa?
What else do we check when examining ulcer?
Is pt systemically unwell? - inc in temp?
What may cause single episode oral ulceration?
Trauma
Why may trauma cause ulcers?
Appliance such as denture (if so then when dente is removed tissue will heal until re wearing denture), brace, URA, sharp tooth, restoration edge, fractured filling