One hundred and sixty HIV-infected Greek patients were prospectively examined and the oral signs and symptoms were recorded. At the time of oral examination, 76 patients were asymptomatic seropositive, 47 were in ARC stage and 37 had AIDS. One or more oral findings were recorded in 90.6% of the patients while a total of 33 different lesions were observed. The more common oral lesions (highly suspicious) were candidiasis (61%), hairy leukoplakia (24%), periodontitis (19%), necrotizing gingivitis (11%) and Kaposi's sarcoma (12%). In addition some unclassified lesions or symptoms (xerostomia 26%, burning mouth syndrome 19%, patchy depapillated tongue 16%, hairy tongue 10%, exfoliative cheilitis 4%), were common while submandibular and cervical lymph node enlargement were found in 49% of the patients. Interestingly in 16 patients (10%) the suspicion of HIV infection was exclusively based on oral lesions. Our findings show that oral signs and symptoms are common and some times early manifestations of HIV infection and it is in association to those reported in previous studies.
PIP: 160 HIV-infected Greek patients were prospectively examined and the oral signs and symptoms recorded. At the time of oral examination, 76 patients were asymptomatic seropositive, 47 were in the ARC stage, and 37 had AIDS. 1 or more oral findings were recorded in 90.6% of the patients, while a total of 33 different lesions were observed. The more common oral lesions (highly suspicious) were candidiasis (61%), hairy leukoplakia (24%), periodontitis (19%), necrotizing gingivitis (11%), and Kaposi's sarcoma (12%). In addition, some unclassified lesions or symptoms (xerostomia--26%, burning mouth syndrome--19%, patchy depapillated tongue--16%, hairy tongue--10%, exfoliative cheilitis--4%) were common, while submandibular and cervical lymph node enlargement were found in 49% of the patients. It is interesting that in 16 patients (10%), the suspicion of HIV infection was based exclusively on oral lesions. The authors' findings show that oral signs and symptoms are common and occasionally early manifestations of HIV infection, and it is in association to those reported in previous studies.