Oral medicine
Online only article
Unusual oral complications of herpes zoster infection: Report of a case and review of literature

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tripleo.2010.04.026Get rights and content

A case of herpes zoster infection with unusual oral complications involving the mandibular division of the trigeminal nerve is presented. The post-herpetic complications of osteonecrosis, spontaneous exfoliation of teeth, and subsequent pathologic fracture of mandible in the absence of concurrent predisposing factors in a 65-year-old man are demonstrated. Forty-one cases with osteonecrosis and spontaneous exfoliation of teeth previously presented in the literature are reviewed. This is the first report of pathologic fracture after herpes zoster infection.

Section snippets

Case Report

A 65-year-old man reported to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Sri Hasanamba Dental College and Hospital, complaining of pain and burning sensation (“pins and needles”) in the right mandibular segment of 8 weeks' duration. All of the teeth in the affected segment had spontaneously exfoliated a few days before (7 teeth, central incisor to second molar). The patient's medical history was positive for asthma for which he took 4 mg salbutamol (Asthalin; Cipla, India) daily for the

Discussion

To our best knowledge, this is the first reported case of pathologic fracture of the mandible after HZI. Osseous involvement and spontaneous tooth exfoliation in HZI of the fifth cranial nerve is quite uncommon.10 Up to 2009, postherpetic alveolar necrosis and spontaneous tooth exfoliation have been described in 41 cases (Table I).6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 A review of these previously reported cases shows an age range between

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