Understanding Cheilosis and How It Affects Your Smile
Posted on 5/15/2020 by Dr. Saklofsky
Cheilosis sounds like a horrible illness, something that might involve your kidneys are your liver. However, cheilosis has nothing to do with your kidneys or your liver. Cheilosis (or cheilitis) is a problem you may have on the corners of your mouth. While it sounds like no big deal, cheilosis can cause trouble with your smile. Here's how cheilosis happens, what you can do about it, and how cheilosis is treated.
What Is Cheilosis?
When patients get cheilosis, they experience irritation, inflammation and cracks in the corners of their mouths. You may have cheilosis on one side of your mouth, but it usually happens on both sides at the same time. There are several reasons you might get cheilosis.
Symptoms of Cheilosis
If you have cheilosis, you will notice that the corners of your mouth appear red and irritated. You may see scabs. The scabs may crack open and become painful. You may also notice that the scabs are weeping from time to time.
How Do I Get Cheilosis?
There are several ways to get cheilosis. One of the most common ways that you get cheilosis is if you have dentures that don't fit properly. If your dentures don't separate your upper and your lower jaws, you may have a problem with cheilosis. When dentures don't work to separate your jaws, you may have excess moisture gather in the corners of your mouth. Excess moisture contributes to the formation of cheilosis. You may also get cheilosis if you lick your lips often. If you rub your lips often, you might get it as well. You are more likely to get cheilosis if you have diabetes, if you are immune deficient, or if you have anemia.
Excess moisture in the corners of your mouth allows Candida to grow. Candida is the yeast infection that causes cheilosis.
reatment
In order to treat cheilosis, there are several things we can try. First, we need to make sure that your dentures aren't the problem. We will check their fit. We may also treat your symptoms with creams or with oral medication. Luckily, cheilosis can heal quickly with treatment. Contact our office today to schedule an appointment.
Dentist Tigard, OR | Dental Blog - Lincoln Center Smiles Dr. Saklofsky has created an educational blog as a resource for our patients. If you like an article or the dental blog in general please share it to social media, then call (971) 317-9499 to make an appointment. Lincoln Center Smiles, 10500 SW Greenburg Rd, Suite 3, Portland, OR 97223-1406, (503) 598-0898, sakdental.com, 10/12/2024, Related Phrases: dentist Tigard OR,
