(oral leukoplakia)
What are the causes of oral leukoplakia?
The etiology of oral leukoplakia is not clear, and some studies have shown that it has a certain relationship with long-term mechanical stimulation, physical and chemical stimulation and poor prostheses in oral cavity. The daily factors that can increase the risk of oral leukoplakia are generally related to smoking, alcoholism, frequent consumption of hot and sour food, hot food and drink, frequent chewing of betel nut, and candida albicans infection.
Among them, smoking is closely related to the incidence of leukoplakia. Studies have shown that the incidence of leukoplakia is directly proportional to the length of smoking history and the amount of smoking, that is, the longer smoking time and the more smoking, the greater the risk of leukoplakia.
How to prevent white spots?
Oral leukoplakia is more common in middle-aged and elderly men, especially over 40 years old, and its incidence increases with age. Oral leukoplakia often occurs in buccal mucosa, followed by tongue, in addition, it can also occur in lips, palate, gums and floor of mouth. The main pathological changes generally include epithelial hyperplasia with hyperkeratosis, acanthosis thickening and inflammatory cell infiltration in lamina propria and submucosa.
The prevention of oral leukoplakia focuses on removing stimulating factors, such as quitting smoking and drinking, eating less hot and sour food, and removing stimulating factors such as residual roots, crowns and bad restorations in the oral cavity. In addition, it is suggested to use materials with guaranteed quality for filling teeth and avoid using different materials for upper and lower teeth, so as to avoid the current stimulation caused by heterogeneous metal restorations and lead to oral leukoplakia.
The clinical symptoms of oral leukoplakia generally include:
According to the different clinical manifestations, leukoplakia can be divided into homogeneous type and heterogeneous type. The former mainly consists of patches and wrinkled paper. The latter mainly includes verrucous type, ulcer type and granular type.
(1) Homogeneous type: For example, white or grayish white homogeneous hard plaque appears on the oral mucosa, with compact texture, slight uplift or unevenness. For example, the surface is wrinkled, the lesion is ups and downs, and the surface is rough, such as white spots on wrinkled paper. Patients generally have no conscious symptoms, or have a rough feeling.
(2) Heterogeneous type:
Verrucous type: the lesion is raised, the surface is uneven and rough, accompanied by papillary or burr-like processes, and the palpable quality is slightly hard. This kind of disease mostly occurs in alveolar ridge, lip, palate and floor of mouth.
Ulcer type: there is erosion or ulcer on the thickened white plaque, with or without local stimulation factors. In addition, patients usually have pain due to ulcer formation, or have a history of recurrent attacks.
Granular type: also known as granular nodular leukoplakia, which occurs in the buccal mucosa corner area. The white lesions are granular protrusions with uneven surface, and the mucosa between lesions is congested, which seems to have small pieces or punctate erosion, and patients may have irritation pain. Candida albicans infection can be found in most of this type of leukoplakia.
These are the common symptoms of oral leukoplakia. Before the diagnosis of oral leukoplakia, other factors that can cause mucosal whitening must be excluded, and pathological examination must be carried out; Histopathological examination is the gold standard for the diagnosis of leukoplakia. Clinical diagnosis of oral leukoplakia can be divided into temporary diagnosis and positive diagnosis. When white mucosal plaques are found and cannot be diagnosed as other diseases, a temporary diagnosis can be made (which may include some cases of white keratosis). After removing some local factors, if the damage still persists after1~ 3 months of observation, a positive diagnosis can be made. Of course, further diagnosis needs to be based on histopathological results.