Oral Surgery · patient case question
After the denture has been adjusted, the tissue lesion persists. What now?
Patient case: Case: something under the denture
Scenario: A denture wearer reports feeling something beneath the prosthesis and is worried it may be malignant. On examination the palate is diffusely red beneath the denture, and there is a folded, fibrous overgrowth of tissue at the denture border. Four linked questions followed.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. Surgical excision of the lesion
- A. Leaving it interferes with the fit of the new denture and forfeits the histologic confirmation that this patient, who feared malignancy, deserves.
- B. Further adjustment has already been tried. Continuing it delays definitive care without addressing established fibrous tissue.
- C. Correct. Once the cause is removed, an epulis fissuratum will regress only partly. Mature fibrous tissue that persists is excised — and the specimen is sent for histopathology — before the new prosthesis is constructed.
- D. Corticosteroids reduce inflammation but do not remove fibrous hyperplasia.