Of the many first-occuring major manifestations of Behcet's disease, the oral ulcer is most frequently observed, shows the highest mean recurrence rate, and the longest mean duration period. A study of the relationship between mechanical
irritation
by
local factors and the recurrence of oral ulcers was carried out to see if there is a correlation. The subjects chosen for the study were 81 patients who were referred to the Department of Oral Diagnosis at yonsei Univesity Dental Hospital from
the
Behcet clinic of Severance Hospital after being diagnosed as Behcet's disease patients.
1. By Shimizu's classification, possible type was the most numerous with 55.55%; while suspected type was 19.76%; incomplete type, 17.28%; and complete type, 7.41% were observed in that order. The male to female ratio was 1 to 1.61, and the
average age
of onset was 27.63 years.
2. Oral ulcers developed most irequently on the tongue(48.28%), and lip(23.15%), buccal mucosa(20.69%), palate pharynx(4.43%), and gingiva(3.45%) also showed ulceration.
3. 38.27% of the patients were HSV positive; 27.16% were CRP positive; 12.34% were ASO positive; 9.87% were RF positive; and 3.7% were ANA positive.
4. According to the answers to the survey, fatigue(85.18%) was most frequently associated with Behcet's diseage. Truma by tooth brushing(22.22%), un specified reasons (20.98%), hard food chewing (12.35%), and irritation by dentition and/or
prosthesis(13.58%) were observed in association with Behcet's disease. 23.46% suffered from dental caries. 51.85% were done with treatment of dental caries and 27.16% had a history of tonsilitis.
5. oral ulcers on the anterior part of tongue and buccal mucosa were associated with local irritants.
6. oral ulcers on the lip and posterior portion of tongue were not associated with local irritants.
Local irritation by dentition and oral ulcer on the anterior part of tongue and buccal mucosa was observed to coexit with one another; in other words, local factors can act to cause of recurrence of an oral ulcer and to delay the healing process
in
Behcet's disease. Therefore, elimination of local factors, along with systemic therapy must be recommended when treating oral ulcers.
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