Hand, foot and mouth disease

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is an acute viral illness with a distinct clinical presentation of oral and characteristic distal extremity lesions. Knowledge of this is important for the dentists as the oral lesions are the first clinical signs and sometimes may be the only sign because the condition occasionally may regress even before the lesions appear on the extremities. This case describes a 5-year-old boy in whom low-grade fever of 38.7°C and oral lesions were the initial manifestations. Proper diagnosis was established later based on the typical location of the initial intraoral ulcers on the soft palate followed by cutaneous lesions on the hands and feet with vesicle formation surrounded by an erythematous halo. The recognition of HFMD is important for both pediatricians and pedodontists as oral manifestations are the first signs and may mimic many other conditions like acute herpetic gingivostomstomatitis, apthous stomatitis, chickenpox, erythema multiformae and misdiagnosis may involve an inappropriate prescription of medication.