Orofacial Disease: Update For The Dental Clinical Team: 3. White Lesions

From Volume 26, Issue 3, April 1999 | Pages 123-129

Authors

Crispian Scully

CBE, DSc, DChD, DMed (HC), Dhc(multi), MD, PhD, PhD (HC), FMedSci, MDS, MRCS, BSc, FDS RCS, FDS RCPS, FFD RCSI, FDS RCSEd, FRCPath, FHEA

Bristol Dental Hospital, Lower Maudlin Street, Bristol BS1 2LY, UK

Articles by Crispian Scully

Stephen Porter

MD, PhD, FDS RCS, FDS RCSE

Professor, Eastman Dental Institute for Oral Health Care Sciences and International Centre for Excellence in Dentistry, University of London

Articles by Stephen Porter

Abstract

White lesions usually contain an increased amount of keratin. Some are rare congenital conditions, such as white sponge naevus and dyskeratosis congenita, unlikely to be seen in general dental practice. Inflammatory causes include candidosis and hairy leukoplakia, both now common in HIV disease. Non-infective causes include the common lesion of lichen planus, and the less common condition lupus erythematosus. Neoplastic and possibly preneoplastic causes include carcinoma, keratoses and leukoplakia. This article discusses the more common causes of oral white lesions. The first article in this series presented several general observations on diagnosis and treatment which should be borne in mind in relation to this article.

Article