What is stomatitis
Stomatitis is a group of dental diseases that have similar manifestations. The disease looks like inflammation of the oral mucosa, localized on the inside of the cheeks, on the palate, gums, lips, and tip of the tongue. In rare cases, lesions are diagnosed in the pharynx, on the tonsils - such formations are the most difficult to notice.
Typically, stomatitis develops as an independent disease as a result of a sharp drop in immunity, chronic infection, or allergies. The disease is contagious only in rare forms, but if left untreated, it quickly spreads through the mucous membranes of the oral cavity - it can provoke a sharp rise in temperature, causing weakness and prolonged malaise.
Stomatitis also manifests itself as a complication or symptom of other diseases - influenza, gastritis, diabetes, bronchial asthma, HIV infection.
How to treat candidal stomatitis?
Candidal stomatitis
The causative agent is the candida fungus, which attacks the body's cells with weakened immunity. It is rare in a healthy person, mainly at risk are young children, those who have recently had ARVI and influenza, diabetics and people suffering from tuberculosis. Externally, the disease manifests itself as multiple white deposits on the tongue and upper palate; there may not be severe pain, but swelling of the lips and cheeks is almost always present.
After a comprehensive diagnosis, courses of treatment are prescribed, which include:
- Levarin, daktarin and analogues of antifungal agents.
- Nystatin ointment or miconazole gel - instead of or as an addition to tablets.
- Iodinol or Lugol - treat the entire affected area and adjacent tissues.
- For at least a week, switch to a light diet - steamed vegetables, chicken fillet, it is advisable to give up flour products, fatty, spicy and salty foods.
Stomatitis: symptoms
Since stomatitis is an inflammatory process, the manifestations of the disease are standard. Dentists identify signs of stomatitis:
- redness, formation of a hyperemic area in the oral cavity;
- swelling, swelling of the affected area;
- the appearance of erosions, ulcers, aphthae;
- itching, burning at the site of ulcer formation;
- gray or yellowish coating along the edges of the canker sores;
- pain when talking, opening the mouth, or touching the mucous membranes of the mouth;
- bleeding due to accidental damage to plaque;
- local temperature increase.
Patients also note an unpleasant taste in the mouth, a putrid odor, and loss of appetite.
Stomatitis: causes
A variety of factors and diseases contribute to the development of stomatitis in adults. For ease of diagnosis, doctors combined the causes of stomatitis into four groups, highlighting the main problem conditions:
- Mechanical injury. Ulcers appear as a result of some irritating factor. Damage can be caused by eating hard foods, poorly installed dentures, tartar buildup, and sharp edges of chipped crowns. Pathogenic microflora enters the damaged area, causing inflammation and active formation of ulcers.
- Chemical or thermal burn. Aggressive chemical agents can be food (citrus fruits), medications, nicotine, incorrectly selected toothpastes or mouth rinses. Thermal burn occurs when consuming excessively hot food or drinks.
- Poor oral hygiene. Failure to comply with regular hygiene procedures, tartar, and plaque provoke the active proliferation of bacterial microflora, which leads to inflammation of the oral mucosa.
- Chronic diseases. In adults, stomatitis develops as a reaction to problems of the gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular system, due to anemia, endocrine pathologies, and HIV infections.
In addition to the listed categories, the causes of stomatitis can also be internal problems:
- vitamin deficiency, micronutrient deficiency - unbalanced diet, metabolic disorders in the body;
- allergies - of any origin;
- heredity - the individual reaction of the immune system to deteriorating health;
- a general decline in immunity - as a result of serious illnesses.
Unfavorable factors become catalysts for the development of pathology, and external circumstances aggravate the course of the disease.
The variety of causes points to an important point: there is no obvious causative agent of stomatitis. In order for an ulcer to localize, several circumstances must coincide - decreased immunity for any reason, an abundance of pathogenic microflora in the oral cavity, a traumatic agent.
What can be done to prevent sores in the mouth from appearing again?
Completing a course of timely treatment for aphthous stomatitis will reduce the risk of a similar disease of the human oral mucosa in the future, but in some cases it will not completely eliminate this possibility. This especially applies to situations where a person has a hereditary tendency to develop aphthous sores in the mouth, suffers from autoimmune diseases, and is prone to allergies.
In such cases, preventive measures are required:
- Enhanced oral hygiene. It involves not only daily brushing of a person’s teeth and gums twice a day, but also rinsing the oral mucosa with solutions of antiseptics or medicinal herbs in order to prevent stomatitis.
- Balanced diet. Reviewing the diet and diet will help saturate the human body with essential vitamins and microelements and reduce the risk of allergies that can cause aphthous wounds in the human mouth.
- Taking vitamin complexes. If it is not possible to compensate for the lack of nutrients in the body with nutrition, then to prevent stomatitis a person can regularly take vitamin complexes, the composition of which, doses and duration of administration will be determined by your attending physician, based on the results of the tests.
- Taking immunomodulatory drugs. Today, there are many remedies that stimulate the immune system and encourage the body to resist diseases. They can be either of plant origin or synthesized in the laboratory. The selection of such drugs is individual for each person and is carried out by a doctor.
- Compliance with preventive measures, timely treatment of the disease and following the recommendations of the attending physician will help a person avoid relapses of aphthous stomatitis and the reappearance of wounds in the mouth in the future. Be attentive to yourself and your health, listen to the signals that your body gives, and at the first signs of disease in the oral mucosa, seek help from a dentist.
You should not self-medicate stomatitis and use the advice of friends or information found on the Internet, since the exact cause of sores in the mouth and stomatitis can only be identified through diagnostic methods. And the selection of treatment is determined in accordance with the diagnosis, and in each case it is individual. Dentistry "LeaderStom" offers its assistance in the treatment of aphthous stomatitis and other diseases of the oral mucosa. Contact us and we will help you identify the cause of the disease and select medications accordingly.
Types of stomatitis in adults
Effective treatment of stomatitis in adults begins with the diagnosis of pathology. Identifying the provoking factor is one of the main tasks of the dentist. The situation is aggravated by the fact that many reasons are similar - they overlap each other, distorting the clinical picture. For this reason, only experienced doctors treat stomatitis in adult patients.
There are a variety of classifications of stomatitis:
- according to the course - acute periodic, chronic, recurrent;
- by external manifestation - redness, aphthae, erosion;
- by localization - on the lip, on the tongue, on the palate, in the throat.
When diagnosing and selecting a treatment plan, dentists try to take into account the versatility of the disease - the form, causes, degree of damage to the mucous membranes, stage of the disease, and other classification parameters. Based on these factors, it is customary to identify the most popular types of stomatitis in adults:
- aphthous;
- ulcerative;
- herpetic;
- candida;
- prosthetic;
- allergic;
- ray.
Aphthous stomatitis
Aphthous stomatitis is characterized by the appearance of round ulcerative formations covered with necrotic plaque. This is the most common variant of the disease - it occurs in 65-70% of dental patients.
The causes of aphthae formation are viral and bacterial diseases. Localization of ulcers is on almost any mucous tissue of the oral cavity.
Initially, the patient is faced with the fibrinous form, when local blood circulation is disrupted. If left untreated, the disease turns into a necrotic form, accompanied by tissue death, or into a scarring form - the mucosal tissue changes structure.
Ulcerative stomatitis
Ulcerative stomatitis is characterized by the formation of deep, painful ulcers in the mouth. They usually arise due to:
- poor hygiene - a large amount of plaque on the teeth, tartar;
- problems with the gastrointestinal tract - metabolic disorders;
- chemical burns - abuse of especially spicy foods.
Lesions affect the deep layers of tissue, so treatment of ulcerative viral or bacterial stomatitis in adults is carried out only by a dentist according to a carefully developed plan.
A separate type of ulcerative stomatitis is ulcerative-necrotizing gingivitis, Vincent's stomatitis. The cause of the disease is the active proliferation of pathogenic microflora, the influence of spindle bacillus and Vincent's spirochete. The disease is observed against the background of a sharp decrease in immunity and is characterized by reactive development. Patients complain of swelling of the gums, suppuration, pain, putrid breath, and loss of appetite. Without treatment, tissue necrosis progresses and tooth roots are exposed.
Herpes (herpetic) stomatitis
Viral herpetic stomatitis is a contagious variant of the disease provoked by the herpes virus. Transmitted through hygiene items, through negligence, by airborne droplets.
Externally it differs from other types, since the lesions look like fluid-filled blisters before turning into ulcers.
During treatment, the doctor conducts complex therapy, including taking medications.
Candidal stomatitis
The cause of candidal stomatitis is a fungus that causes the appearance of a cheesy coating on the oral mucosa. Underneath the plaque is a swollen, inflamed area. When the formations are removed, the tissue surfaces begin to bleed.
The causes of the disease are decreased immunity and poor hygiene. Treatment requires careful selection of drugs so as not to aggravate the situation.
Prosthetic stomatitis
The pathology is typical only for adult patients, as it is a consequence of improper prosthetics, individual intolerance to the crown material, and poor quality of care for the orthopedic product.
The disease manifests itself as inflammation of the soft tissues around the prosthetic structure, turning into ulcers and erosion.
Allergic stomatitis
A distinctive feature of the disease is dryness and itching in the mouth. This is how increased sensitivity to allergens manifests itself. At the site of the inflamed areas, aphthae and ulcers quickly form. In severe cases, an ulcerative-necrotic form may develop.
Pathology happens:
- acute - single manifestation;
- chronic - with constant relapses and complications.
Treatment requires an integrated approach.
Radiation stomatitis
The reason for the appearance is the patient undergoing radiation therapy or chemotherapy and, as a result, a decrease in immunity. It occurs acutely - with inflammation and ulcers. Requires careful attention from the doctor during treatment to avoid worsening the situation.
How to get rid of sores in the mouth?
Stomatitis wounds that occur in the human mouth, in most cases, heal on their own within 7-10 days after formation. But timely treatment of aphthous stomatitis is necessary in order to prevent the formation of ulcers on the human oral mucosa again. The fact is that the acute form of stomatitis, which is characterized by the sudden appearance of wounds of various sizes on the upper and lower palate in a person’s mouth, if the problem is ignored or the wrong treatment is carried out, tends to develop into a chronic form of the disease. Wounds in the oral cavity with chronic stomatitis appear periodically and bother a person from time to time throughout life.
To exclude the possibility of aphthous stomatitis ulcers reoccurring, dentists perform the following treatment:
Local therapy
. It involves treating wounds on the oral mucosa with antiseptic agents: gels, ointments or sprays. During this treatment of stomatitis, a person is prescribed daily rinses with solutions such as furatsilin, chlorhexidine, miramistin, etc.
General therapy.
It includes a set of measures to cure this disease and at the same time strengthen the body. To strengthen the body, the doctor prescribes immunomodulatory drugs and vitamin courses to the person. To combat aphthous stomatitis, different drugs are used, depending on the nature of the disease and the causes of its occurrence: antihistamines, antivirals, steroids or antibiotics.
The selection of funds for the treatment of wounds with aphthous stomatitis is carried out only by a doctor and occurs after a visual examination of the person’s oral cavity, conducting the necessary diagnostic tests and making a diagnosis. The LeaderStom Clinic offers to use the services of our experienced doctors to carry out these operations.
