title: Oral white lesions: pitfalls of diagnosis.
abstract: General practitioners are often the first point of contact for patients with oral white lesions, which represent a wide spectrum of diagnoses of varying seriousness. Some clinical features are classical and others overlap between different diagnoses; they should be correlated with patient history, and sometimes other investigations, for diagnosis. Leukoplakia is a clinical term, and is a diagnosis of exclusion with no histopathological connotation. It has been redefined to describe a predominantly white lesion with premalignant potential. Patients with lesions that are potentially malignant should be referred to an oral medicine specialist or oral maxillofacial surgeon for systematic management.
authors.affiliation: Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Kai H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ajith D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Polonowita
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D002180:Candidiasis, Oral / Q000175:diagnosis; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007972:Leukoplakia, Oral / Q000175:diagnosis; D017676:Lichen Planus, Oral / Q000175:diagnosis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis