Tongue Lip Intraoral Diseases

Aphthae are painful and ulcerous lesions seen frequently in the buccal and lip mucosa, on the tongue and soft palate, in the pharynx, on the gingiva that are surrounded with pale yellow-red ring.  20% of the community has aphtha problems more or less. It is observed in women more.  Even though it is generally seen in one region, aphthae may be observed in several regions at the same time.  Various studies were realized to determine the reason of aphtha, however exact reason is not determined although many factors that accelerate its formation and worsen its progress.  Thus it is possible to talk about factors that speed up formation of aphtha and delay its healing.

STRESS
Stress that is accepted among the reasons of many diseases such as migraine, hypertension and gastritis is one of the most important reasons of aphtha.

Premenstrual tension is one of the factors that accelerate formation of aphthae.

FOOD
Foods such as citrus fruits, vinegar, pickles, potato chips, salty and spicy snacks that irritate mouth mucosa are among the significant factors that accelerate aphtha formation.  On the other hand, foods such as buckwheat, rye, barley, chocolate, hazelnut, shellfish, soy beans, tomato, aubergine, apple, fig, cheese which may be allergic for some structures, also accelerate formation of aphthae.

TRAUMA
Dents caused by biting cheek, tongue, lips; irritation by hard food; scratching tooth brushing, and unadjusted dental prosthesis help formation of medium suitable for aphthae.

TOOTHPASTE
“Sodium lauryl sulphoacetate” (SLS) that is added to the toothpaste as foaming agent to improve its cleaning property is an irritant chemical that increases cell lyses.  Thus SLS is an agent that is directly effective on the formation of aphtha.  Today toothpastes that contain less SLS (1.25%) are manufactured for individuals who have aphtha problem.

(Tom's of Maine Natural Toothpaste , Oral-B Sensitive Fluoride Toothpaste.)

SYSTEMIC DISEASES
Behçet’s Syndrome:
It is a disease characterized with recurrent aphthae besides many systemic indications such as genital ulcer, conjunctivitis, retinite, leucocytosis.

Recurrent aphthae may be accompanied to many malign and autoimmune diseases.

OTHER REASONS
It is known that B12 vitamin and iron deficiency, habits like smoking, chewing tobacco are significant factors that contribute to the formation of aphthae.