Oral Self-Injury: Report of a Case with Review of Literature.
Self-inflicted oral injuries are commonly seen in certain syndromes and
systemic disorders. Most frequently affected regions of the body are the oral
and perioral tissues, hands and neck.
Although no medical treatment is available, timely dental intervention is
essential to prevent further complications.
The aim of this paper is to report a unique case of oral self-injury in a 10-month-old
infant which was successfully treated with conservative therapy and also to briefly review the literature.
Cuts, burns, scratches, blunt injury, bites, and interference with wound
healing are the most common forms of self-injury.
Self-injury can affect individuals of any age, sex, or ethnic group but its frequency
has found to increase amongst adolescents and young adults.
Cannavale et al concluded that oral self-injury was uncommon in clinical practice
and presented itself as the first sign of psychiatric disorder.
Ragazzini et al introduced a new technique, a resin mouthguard to obtain
immediate healing of the oral lesions.
Family history was negative for developmental disorders and congenital syndromes.
The parents had history of consanguineous marriage.
The patient had history of pneumonia one week after birth.
Presently the patient was undergoing treatment for infection in blood and urine.
When complete blood count was done it was found that hemoglobin level
was low and leukocytosis was observed as the WBC count was 20.
A thorough clinical evaluation.
Dent Open J. 2015; 2(3): 77-79. doi: 10.17140/DOJ-2-115
