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. 2018 Jun;93(3):341-346.
doi: 10.1590/abd1806-4841.20186228.

Recurrent aphthous ulceration: an epidemiological study of etiological factors, treatment and differential diagnosis

Salomão Israel Monteiro Lourenço Queiroz  1 , Marcus Vinícius Amarante da Silva  2 , Ana Miryam Costa de Medeiros  1 , Patrícia Teixeira de Oliveira  1 , Bruno Cesar de Vasconcelos Gurgel  1 , Éricka Janine Dantas da Silveira  1
Affiliations

Recurrent aphthous ulceration: an epidemiological study of etiological factors, treatment and differential diagnosis

Salomão Israel Monteiro Lourenço Queiroz et al. An Bras Dermatol. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Recurrent aphthous ulcerations are common benign ulcerated lesions on the mouth, whose etiology is poorly understood, with controversial treatment and difficult to control in clinical practice.

Objective: To evaluate the cases of recurrent aphthous ulcerations with a focus on treatment, diagnosis and etiology.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of the cases of the Oral Diagnosis service of the Rio Grande do Norte Federal University in Natal/RN. Data such as sex, age, race, location, smoking habits, types of treatment, relapsing episodes, laboratory test results and clinical characteristics were collected. The associations between the variables were analyzed using the Pearson Chi-square test (p <0.05).

Results: A total of 4895 patients were seen in the service over a period of 11 years. Of these, 161 (3.3%) had complaints of oral aphthous ulcerations, of which 76 (47.2%) were diagnosed as suffering from recurrent aphthous ulcerations and 68 (42.2%) with clinical information necessary for evaluation. The tongue was the most affected anatomical region, with 27 individuals (39.7%), followed by the buccal mucosa, with 22 cases (32.3%).

Study limitations: Retrospective study with data from medical records.

Conclusion: Dental surgeons, dermatologists and otorhinolaryngologists are the main responsible for the first contact with patients with this disease and should be attentive to the clinical aspects and treat each patient in an individualized way, since the therapy is palliative, its diagnosis is by exclusion and its etiology is unknown.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Anatomical sites of RAS. a: Lower lip (Major RAS), b: Upper lip (Minor RAS), c: Buccal mucosa and soft palate (Herpetiform RAS), d: Floor (Major RAS), and: Oral vestibule (Major RAS) and f: Tongue (Minor RAS)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Major RAS on the left lateral border of the tongue
Figure 3
Figure 3
Clinical follow-up after 15 days, evidencing successful treatment and remission of the lesion and pain symptoms
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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