Case history
Case history
A 17-year-old male student presents with recurrent mouth ulceration since his early schooldays. He has no respiratory, anogenital, gastrointestinal, eye, or skin lesions. His mother had a similar history as a teenager. The social history includes no tobacco use and virtually no alcohol consumption. He has no history of recent drug or medication ingestion. Extraoral exam reveals no significant abnormalities and specifically no pyrexia; no cervical lymph node enlargement; nor cranial nerve, salivary, or temporomandibular joint abnormalities. Oral exam reveals a well-restored dentition and there is no clinical evidence of periodontal-attachment loss or pocketing. He has five 4 mm round ulcers with inflammatory haloes in his buccal mucosae.
Other presentations
The ulcer pattern is an important aspect of diagnosis of any recurrent oral ulceration. Recurrent ulcers starting from childhood are usually aphthous ulcers (aphthae) but they may be aggravated in adult life on smoking cessation or if there is systemic disease. If similar ulcers start later or are associated with fever or systemic disease, they may be aphthous-like ulcers.
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