Reference/Features

Ulcers: causes, identification and management

5 mins read Oral health and mouth cancer Fluoride varnish Patient education
What are mouth ulcers? How are they identified and what advice should patients be given? Ulcers are uncomfortable, have a number of causes and may be a sign of an underlying condition. They also give dental teams opportunities to build relationships with patients

Mouth ulcers are a common complaint that the general public often may be tempted to ignore or treat themselves rather than seek medical advice (Gill and Scully, 2007). There are many reasons why patients may experience this mainly harmless condition.

This article will explore the aetiology of mouth ulcers, how this may be linked to a patient’s systemic or emotional health, or be a side-effect of pharmacology. Additionally, it will explore how dental professionals can identify mouth ulcers, and what advice they can give patients to manage this uncomfortable condition (NHS Choices, 2012).

Scully and Porter (1998: 478) describe an aphthous ulcer as ‘damage to both the epithelium and lamina propria, and a crater, sometimes made more obvious clinically by swelling caused by oedema or proliferation in the surrounding tissue’.

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