Oral tuberculosis. Review of the literature. A case report

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic granulomatous disease which affects the lungs in majority of the cases. Tuberculosis of the oral cavity may be overlooked in the differential diagnosis of oral lesions and can be misdiagnosed and managed incorrectly. Oral manifestations of TB are seen both in primary and secondary stages of the disease but are most commonly associated with secondary TB. A 39-year-old smoker man with an ulcerative oral lesion came to the emergency room. A partial incisional biopsy was performed, with the result of squamous mucosa with ulceration and intense chronic non-necrotizing granulomatous inflammation. In addition, he had a cavitated lesion in the lung. We write this article in order to determine the importance of making a good differential diagnosis of ulcerative lesions of the oral cavity and emphasize the multidisciplinary management of this pathology.