Chronic ulcerative stomatitis: A case report

Background: Certain mucocutaneous diseases present with painful, ulcerative , or erosive oral manifestations. Chronic ulcerative stomatitis is a newly recognized disease of unknown origin which presents clinically with feature s of desquamative gingivitis. This report marks only the thirteenth case re ported in the world literature. A review of previous reports and studies is presented along with a review of immunofluorescence techniques critical to proper diagnosis. These diseases are difficult to diagnose without the use of immunofluorescence techniques. A 54-year-old Caucasian woman presented with a 2- to 3-year history of stomatitis and dry mouth. Methods: Direct immunofluorescence revealed a speckled pattern of IgG depos its in the basal one-third of the epithelium, while indirect immunofluoresc ence confirmed the presence of stratified epithelium-specific antinuclear a ntigen (SES-ANA), both pathognomonic for chronic ulcerative stomatitis. Results: The patient was successfully treated using topical corticosteroid therapy.