Stomatitis is an inflammatory process in the oral mucosa.
Despite the huge incidence of stomatitis, a large number of questions to this day do not have a definite answer. These issues include the causes of stomatitis.
At first glance, it seems that the causes of stomatitis are gastric, intestinal, liver, blood and cardiovascular, endocrine and nervous diseases, against which stomatitis develops. In another way, stomatitis can occur as a reaction to the irritation of systems and organs.
The causes of stomatitis determine the classification of the disease:
– traumatic stomatitis, in which the causes of stomatitis are mechanical damage to the oral mucosa;
– stomatitis of an infectious nature, in which the causes of stomatitis are viral, bacterial or fungal pathogens;
– symptomatic stomatitis, in which the causes of stomatitis are diseases of the internal organs.
According to the symptoms, stomatitis is divided into catarrhal, characterized by the absence of ulcerations on the mucosa, aphthous and ulcerative varieties of the disease. However, other types of stomatitis can be observed. Various forms of the course of the disease can be stages of a single pathological process.
Gastrointestinal pathologies become causes of stomatitis, which are almost impossible to cure until the underlying disease is treated. It should be noted that with most diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, there is a disruption in the functioning of neurohumoral mechanisms that are responsible, inter alia, for the normal healthy state of the oral mucosa.
The difficulty in establishing the type of stomatitis is caused not only by a huge number of causes of the disease, but also by the rate of development of changes in symptoms. For example, blisters with stomatitis quickly degenerate into ulcerations or plaques, and therefore it is not always possible to analyze their initial form.
Many diseases of an infectious nature occur accompanied by the obstruction of the muscles of the tongue. In addition, diseases of the digestive organs can have a single manifestation, expressed in a change in the oral mucosa. For example, an enduring plaque in the tongue indicates an acute course of any intestinal or gastric disease. In the process of calming down the inflammatory phenomenon, in other words, during the remission period of the underlying disease, the plaque passes or becomes significantly less. As a rule, plaque in the tongue does not require any special treatment.
Diseases of the heart and blood vessels, accompanied by blood failure, are distinguished by the acquisition of a bluish coloration of the skin of the lips, tongue, and oral mucosa. Sometimes, in this case, there is a burning sensation in the oral cavity. Severe cardiovascular failure can cause erosion or ulceration in the oral cavity. These phenomena need treatment.
Diseases of the blood system, for example, anemia, leukemia, and many others, can also occur accompanied by pathologies of the oral mucosa. In such a situation, bleeding of the mucous membrane and hemorrhages are most often observed.
With psoriasis, alternation of white and red areas is noted, which tend to remain, even when the underlying disease is treated. Fortunately, these phenomena do not represent a hazard to health and, especially, to life.
Other diseases, such as AIDS, for example, also have varieties of stomatitis among their symptoms. In this regard, dentists are required to analyze the general condition of the patient, before prescribing treatment.