Introduction: The prevalence and distribution of involvement of the oral and periodontal mucosa in pseudoxanthoma elasticum are not known.
Patients and methods: Eighteen consecutive patients with pseudoxanthoma elasticum underwent routine stomatological examination and panoramic dental X-ray.
Results: Mucosal involvement was seen in 15 cases (83%): in nine cases it was limited to the inside of the lower lip and in six cases it also extended to the hard palate or soft palate, and/or the inside of the upper lip. Clinical examination showed the additional presence of active periodontal disease in four cases. The radiological examination revealed periodontal lysis in nine subjects and this disease was clinically active in three cases.
Discussion: Clinical involvement of the oral mucosa is extremely common in pseudoxanthoma elasticum, particularly on the inside of the lower lip. Oral lesions may provide diagnostic clues for pseudoxanthoma elasticum when skin lesions are either atypical or absent. The frequency of periodontal involvement in this preliminary study without control subjects did not appear to be higher than that seen in the general population.