Oral Manifestations of Syphilis

Syphilis: The Renaissance of an Old Disease with Oral Implications

“…The lesions are asymptomatic but are teaming with the spirochetes and are highly infectious. The lesion is usually single and heals spontaneously without scarring [50][51][52][53].…”

“…An additional feature (although today of extremely rare observation!) is glossitis with mucosal atrophy, which may have a malignant potential [3,[50][51][52][53]; however, this point has been challenged by the consideration that instead tongue carcinomas in the past have been caused by arsenical compounds (formerly used to treat syphilis!) that notoriously are carcinogenetic.…”

Reemerging syphilis: diagnosis from oral lesions

“…Extragenital chancres are rare and, when present, the lip is most commonly involved site, as result of oral sex practice and often goes unnoticed by the patient 2,12 . It was not possible to clinically observe the chancre in our patient once she came to our Institution in a more advanced stage of the disease.…”

“…Different from primary syphilis, that is presented as a single painless chancre, the oral lesions of secondary syphilis are usually symptomatic and multiple 11 . The most common oral lesions associated with secondary syphilis are ulcers or erosions and "mucous patches" with two subtypes: slightly elevated-type plaques with ulcerated surface occasionally; or multiple mucous patches that may coalesce to give rise to serpiginous lesions, described as snail track ulcers [4][5][6][12][13][14] . As seen in our patient, the usually affected sites are soft palate, tongue, lips, buccal mucosa, and vestibular mucosa 5,14 .…”

Oral injuries as syphilis diagnosis: case report

“…The oral lesions are more frequent and varied in early syphilis and are described as syphilitic stains, syphilitic papules, and mucous patches. The oral chancres are found in 4 to 12% of the patients with early syphilis, and the most affected places are the tongue, the gums, the soft palate, and the lips (9,10) . Because of the diversity of manifestations that syphilis can present, its diagnosis acquires a multidisciplinary nature, involving various health-care professionals (8,11) .…”