Chapter 16: Head and Neck Flashcards
(97 cards)
Focal demineralization of enamel and dentin by acidic metabolites of fermented sugar produced by bacteria
Dental caries (tooth decay)
What is the most common cause of tooth loss before age 35?
Dental caries
What are some complications associated with Dental caries?
pain that interferes with daily living
weight loss
life threatening infections
What is a sticky, colorless biofilm that collects between the surface of the teeth?
Plaque
Plaque buildup beneath the gum line causes what condition?
What happens if plaque is not removed?
Gingivitis
Can mineralize to form calculus (tartar)
What is the reversible inflammation of the squamous mucosa and soft titssue around the teeth and is most common in adolesence?
Gingivitis
How does gingivitis contribute to dental caries formation?
bacteria in the plaque release acids from sugar rich foods eroding enamel surface
Inflammatory process affecting the supporting structures of the teeth (peridontal lig.), alveolar bone, and cementum, and can progress to tooth falling out?
Periodontitis
What are the normal class of bacteria that colonize healthy gingival sites?
Facultative gram positives
Change in oral flora —> ________ + ________ = periodontitis
What organisms predispose to periodontitis?
Change in oral flora —> anaerobic + microaerophilic G (-) = periodontitis
aggregibacter, porphyromonas and pervotella
Which systemic diseases are associated w/ Periodontitis?
- AIDS
- Leukemia
- Chron disease
- DM
- Down syndrome (high risk for leukemia)
- Sarcoidosis
- Dz asso. w/ defect in neutrophils (Chediak-Higashi, agranulocytosis, and cyclic neutropenia)
Which diseases can periodontal infections be the origin for?
- Infective endocarditis
- Pulmonary and Brain abscesses
Which inflammatory lesion is typically found on the gingiva of children, young adults, and pregnant woman (pregnancy tumor)?
Pyogenic granuloma
Which test is diagnostic for Acute Herpetic Gingivostomatitis?
What are you looking for?
- Tzanck test, microscopic examination of the vesicle fluid
- Presence of multinucleate polykaryons (giant cells) or eosinophilic intranuclear viral inclusions
Which infection produces a characteristic dirty white, fibrinosuppurative, tough, inflammatory membrane over the tonsils and retropharynx?
Diptheria
Which infection produces spotty enanthema in the oral cavity often preceding a skin rash; ulcerations on the buccal mucosa about Stensen duct producing Koplik spots (small red lesions w/ blue-white centers)?
Measles
Which 3 hematologic disorders may present w/ oral changes?
1) Pancytopenia (agranulocytosis, aplastic anemia)
2) Leukemia
3) Monocytic leukemia
Hairy leukoplakia is caused by what virus?
Found where in oral cavity?
- EBV
- Lateral border of the tongue
Which oral lesion is characterized by a distinct microscopic appearance consisting of hyperkeratosis and acanthsosis with “balloon cells” in the upper spinous layer?
Hairy leukoplakia
Until proven otherwise, all leukoplakias must be considered __________.
Precancerous
What are the histological changes of the epithelium seen with erythroplakia?
Severe dysplasia, carcinoma in situ, or minimally invasive carcinoma
Around 95% of the cancers of the head and neck are of which type?
Remainder largely consists of which type?
- Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) = majority (95%)
- Adenocarcinomas of salivary gland origin = remainder
In the oropharynx, as many as 70% of SCCs, particularly those involving the tonsils, base of the tongue, and the pharynx, harbor what?
- Oncogenic variants of HPV
- Particularly HPV-16
What is the prognosis (5-year survival rate) of the “classic” (smoking and alcohol related) early-stage SCC?
Late stage?
- Good (80%)
- Drops to 20% for late-stage disease








