Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate all the cases of lupus erythematosus with oral involvement coming to the Department of Oral Medicine in the last 15 years (1984-1998).
Methods: The files of the Oral Medicine Department of the University of Turin have been reviewed to search oral manifestations of lupus erythematosus according to international accepted diagnostic criteria.
Results: A total of eleven patients 7 women (64%) and 4 men (36%) with a mean age of 46 years were included. Three patients (27%) had discoid lupus erythematosus (LED) whereas 8 (73%) had systemic lupus erythematosus (LES). In four patients the diagnosis of lupus was made after oral diagnosis, whereas 7 patients (64%) had a previous diagnosis of lupus. Clinical aspect was typical in 8 cases (73%) while one patient had leukoplakia-like white patches and two patients (18%) had lichen-like oral lesion.
Conclusions: This study suggest that primitive oral lesion of lupus are quite rare but frequently may have atypical features often difficult to differentiate from lichen planus.