This paper aims at characterizing clinical features, occurrence, diagnostic process and treatment of oral tuberculosis (TB), basing on the available literature. Oral TB manifestations are uncommon and usually secondary to pulmonary changes. They predominantly appear as ulcers. Eruptions are usually single, painful and resistant to conventional treatment. Diagnosis always needs to be confirmed histopathologically. Anti-tubercular systemic therapy is required in every patient diagnosed with oral TB, while topical treatment is only adjuvant. A low incidence of oral TB together with a non-specific clinical picture might pose difficulties in its diagnosis. Oral changes in TB are likely to be overlooked what can result in further spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis due to a delay in instituting proper treatment. Tuberculosis morbidity has risen recently and more multi-drug resistant strains of TB bacilli are found, what can result in a higher incidence of oral TB. Clinicians should be therefore aware of a possible occurrence of this entity and consider it while making a differential diagnosis of atypical oral changes.

IntroductionRecurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is a common chronic inflammatory oral mucosa disease with an unknown cause. However, dysregulation of the immune response seems to play an important role in this disease.AimTo evaluate the vitamin D status in RAS patients and its effects on RAS severity, given the likely immunomodulatory function of vitamin D in the human organism.Material and methodsSixty-six patients with RAS and 66 controls were examined. Immunomodulatory or immunosuppressive treatment and other ulcerative oral diseases were used as exclusion criteria. The severity of RAS was assessed according to the clinical classification of the disease, the number of lesions per flare-up and the length of intervals between the attacks. The serum vitamin D level was established in each participant.ResultsThe mean serum vitamin D (25(OH)D) levels were found to be 16.81 ng/ml in the study group and 19.22 ng/ml in the control group, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups. In the study group, 5 (7.6%) participants were diagnosed with the “normal” vitamin D levels, while 16 (24.2%) had “insufficient” levels and 45 (68.2%) had “deficient” levels. The corresponding distribution in the control group was 8 (12.1%), 18 (27.3%) and 40 (60.6%), respectively. There was no statistical significance in the difference of vitamin D deficits between the study and the control groups. No correlation was detected between the severity of RAS and the serum vitamin D level.ConclusionsVitamin D does not seem to be a trigger factor for RAS occurrence and does not appear to influence the severity of the disease in the studied group.

The presence of IL-1 β *2 allele within the c.+3954 and c.-511 SNPs was found to be neither a significant risk factor for a higher incidence of any type of RAS, nor did it influence the disease severity and mode of recurrences.

BackgroundRecurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is an ulcerative disease of the oral mucosa without a clearly defined etiology. The aim of the study was to evaluate the serum zinc levels in patients with RAS in comparison to healthy controls and to validate the association between zinc levels and the course of RAS.MethodsSeventy-five patients with RAS and 72 controls underwent full dental examination. Serum zinc levels were determined by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (F AAS). The results were statistically analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney, chi-square tests and the test of difference between the two rates of structure with p < 0.05 as a significance level (Statistica 10, StatSoft®).ResultsNo statistically significant differences were detected in serum zinc levels between RAS patients and healthy controls. The mean serum zinc concentration was found to be 84.2 μg/dL in RAS group and 83.9 μd/dL in controls, within the accepted norms. Zinc deficiency was observed in 10.7% patients from the RAS group and in 6.9% controls. No significant differences in serum zinc levels were found between patients when the course of the disease was considered.ConclusionsSerum zinc concentrations did not differ significantly in RAS patients and in healthy controls and it did not influence the course of the disease. Therefore, zinc does not appear to be an important modifying factor in the development of RAS.

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