Lingual tuberculosis

Abstract

Oral tuberculosis is very rare and when present they are usually secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis. Tuberculous lesions of the tongue have become so infrequent that they are virtually a forgotten disease entity and may pose a diagnostic problem. The case reported in this paper emphasizes the importance of including tuberculosis in the differential diagnosis of any chronic oral ulcer. The low number of oral infections by M. tuberculosis could be due to underreporting.