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Non-Healing Ulcer Due To A Foreign Body : A Case Report
Authors: Dr. Hitesh Vij Dr. Ruchieka Vij Dr. Vineeta Gupta Dr. Shamindra Sengupta
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Oral cavity can be affected by numerous pathological conditions. These pathologies may have varied appearances like a swelling, an ulcer, a fistula etc., while some of these are common, others are rare. Ulcerative lesions are quite frequently encountered in the dental patients. Though ulcers have similar appearances, their etiologies encompass numerous disorders which may be reactive, infectious, immunologic, neoplastic or traumatic.1
Traumatic ulcers are generally caused by mechanical trauma and a cause and effect relationship is usually obvious. These ulcers are quite common in areas which easily come between teeth, such as lower lip, tongue and buccal mucosa. These may even arise due to masochistic habits, ill fitting prosthesis or sometimes may be iatrogenic. Even the use of a very strong mouth rinse or consumption of extremely hot food can cause ulcerations on oral mucosa.
Traumatic ulcers can be acute or chronic. Acute ulcers are generally painful have a yellow base with surrounding red halo. The patient generally gives a history of trauma and the lesion heals in a week to 10 days, if the cause is eliminated. In case of chronic ulcers there is little or no pain, they have a yellow base with elevated margins. The patient may not remember history of trauma due to the long standing nature of the lesion. These ulcers do not heal easily, unless the cause and any other irritant are removed. Their clinical appearance and long standing presence may mimic carcinoma or infectious ulcers.1
In this article we present a case which was clinically thought to be a non-healing ulcer but after biopsy and proper correlation with clinical history was diagnosed as an ulcer caused by the presence of a foreign body.