Are Oral Mucosal Changes a Sign of COVID-19? A Cross-Sectional Study at a Field Hospital

Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has many manifestations, including respiratory, thrombotic, neurologic, digestive, and cutaneous ones. Cutaneous manifestations have been classified into 5 clinical patterns: acro-ischemic (pseudo-chilblain), vesicular, urticarial, maculopapular, and livedoid. Oral manifestations have also been reported, but much less frequently.

We performed a cross-sectional study in which we examined the oral mucosa of 666 patients with COVID-19 at the IFEMA field hospital in Madrid in April 2020.

Seventy-eight patients (11.7%) had changes involving the oral mucosa. The most common were transient anterior U-shaped lingual papillitis (11.5%) accompanied or not by tongue swelling (6.6%), aphthous stomatitis (6.9%), a burning sensation in the mouth (5.3%), mucositis (3.9%), glossitis with patchy depapillation (3.9%), white tongue (1.6%), and enanthema (0.5%). Most of the patients also reported taste disturbances.

COVID-19 also manifests in the oral cavity. The most common manifestations are transient U-shaped lingual papillitis, glossitis with patchy depapillation, and burning mouth syndrome. Mucositis with or without aphthous ulcers or enanthema may also be observed. Any these findings may be key clues to a diagnosis of COVID-19.