Oral ulceration: aetiology, diagnosis and treatment

Oral ulceration is common and the aetiologies are very varied. Careful assessment and examination of patients presenting with oral ulceration is required to ensure the correct diagnosis and enable appropriate management. Most ulcers are benign, however a proportion of these are malignant. It is essential to differentiate between non-recurrent and recurrent ulceration. Recurrent oral ulceration is common and thought to affect up to 25% of the population worldwide (Paleri et al, 2010) and maybe associated with an underlying systemic disease, including nutritional deficiencies and inflammatory conditions (Le Doare et al, 2014). Other causes of recurrent oral ulceration include Behcet's disease, when there may a spectrum of genital, ocular, cutaneous, neurological and vascular problems (Scully and Porter, 2008). Recurrent aphthous stomatitis is the most common and is typified by recurrent ulceration of the oral mucosa with no other clinical abnormality or underlying systemic disease.