[Oral pathology in 161 asymptomatic and symptomatic HIV-positive patients]

The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of oral manifestations in HIV-infected patients and to correlate their frequency with the clinical stage. One hundred and sixty one HIV-positive individuals were examined, of whom 64 (40%) were in stages CDC-II and III and 97 (60%) in stage CDC-IV. The patients were examined at the AIDS out-patient clinic of the Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición Salvador Zubirán. The oral exams were performed by three examiners who were intra and inter calibrated, so that standard clinical criteria were followed. One hundred and twenty five patients (78%) showed one or more oral lesions. The proportion of patients with oral lesions increased significantly (p less than 0.05) according to the severity of the infection. Hairy leukoplakia (40%) and erythematous candidiasis (31%) were the most frequent lesions. When the prevalence of the different oral lesions was compared between the patients at early stages with the patients at the late stage no significant differences were found; only the pseudomembranous candidiasis and the exfoliative cheilitis were found with significantly higher values at stage CDC-IV than at earlier stages (p less than 0.001 and p less than 0.05 respectively). No association was found between oral candidiasis and tobacco use or xerostomia. Our study demonstrates that the prevalence and clinical features of the oral manifestations found showed similarities with those reported in other countries, but ulcero-necrotizing gingivitis was not found in our patients.