Jalyn Doeden

Palazzolo, M., Poth, M., Palazzolo, D. (2009). The Primer on Common Oral Conditions. The
Journal of Professional Excellence Dimensions of Dental Hygiene, 4(7). 38-41.

Dental hygienist are the first line of defense for most patients. As caretakers we need to
be on the lookout for lesions and make sure the lesions we find do not mount up to anything
more severe. One of the most common oral lesion are aphthous ulcers. Clinical signs are: round
or oval shaped, covered by a white or yellow exudate, and are surrounded by a red border.
Usually when patients have this lesion they will tell you it is very painful. You will find these
lesions on movable mucosa. There are three kinds of aphthous ulcers: minor, major, and
herpetiform. Minor ulcers are the most common and are normally small. Major ulcers are not as
common, but can cause more pain due to a larger area being affected. Herpetiform ulcers are the
least common. When seen clinically they are a cluster of lesions. All of these ulcers, no matter
how small or big they are come with pain. There is nothing to speed up the healing process, but
you can use topical anesthetics to help numb the ulcer to decrease the pain. Another common
lesion found in the oral cavity is the herpes virus. The most common seen within the oral cavity
is herpes simplex virus 1. We are now seeing more occurrences of the herpes simplex virus 2
which is associated with sexual practices. The primary herpes infection is a generalized area of
ulcers affecting keratinized and nonkeratinized tissue. After you encounter the virus once, it
always lives inside you until it is activated again. Once it is reactivated it just looks like the
common cold sore. Secondary HSV is a chronic form of the infection. Sometimes you are able

to feel it coming on with an itching of where the lesion will be appearing. If you can feel it
coming on, you should go and get some topical antiviral medication.
This article just retaught me what I had already known. We just learned this and it is still
very fresh in my mind. With these lesions being very common I have already seen a couple in
clinic. When I encountered these lesions patients all said how painful it was, which is when you
tell them you cannot really give them anything besides topical anesthetic to help keep the pain to
a minimum.