FACTITIOUS INJURY OF THE ORAL-MUCOSA - A CASE SERIES

GINGIVAL AND ORAL MUCOSAL TISSUES can be the site of a number of mucoc utaneous and ulcerative conditions. Generally, these are not difficult to identify on the basis of clinical characteristics, and diagnosis c an be aided by the use of routine histopathological and immunopatholog ical techniques as well as other laboratory investigations. Self-induc ed or factitious injury (FI) of the oral mucosal tissues may present a confusing clinical picture, and be diagnosed erroneously as a mucocut aneous disorder in spite of the absence of appropriate pathological an d immunopathological findings, or a failure to respond to routine trea tment. A case series is presented here outlining 4 cases of FI which p resented initially as mucocutaneous disease. These cases were investig ated to rule out systemic or local causes, in order to establish a dia gnosis of FI. Treatment of these conditions was facilitated with place bo or sham procedures which were designed primarily to cover the lesio ns. In most cases, the self injurious behavior could be linked to seco ndary gain.