Oral Crohn's disease and related conditions

It has become widely recognised that oral lesions may occur in patients with Crohn's disease of the lower gastro-intestinal tract. Patients have also been described with oral lesions of this kind unassociated with gut lesions. The purpose of this paper is to describe the clinical presentation of seven such patients. The resemblance of their lesions to those of the condition known as chronic granulomatous cheilitis is pointed out. The association between the oral lesions and those of the lower gut is discussed and it is reported that in one patient acute toxic dilation of the colon due to Crohn's disease followed a period in which oral lesions only were recognised.