Symptoms
In the initial phase of the disease, the mucosa feels leathery with palpable fibrotic bands. In the advanced stage the oral mucosa loses its resiliency and becomes blanched and stiff. The disease is believed to begin in the posterior part of the oral cavity and gradually spread outward.
Other features of the disease include:
- Xerostomia
- Recurrent ulceration
- Pain in the ear or deafness
- Nasal intonation of voice
- Restriction of the movement of the soft palate
- A budlike shrunken uvula
- Thinning and stiffening of the lips
- Pigmentation of the oral mucosa
- Dryness of the mouth and burning sensation
- Decreased mouth opening and tongue protrusion
Read more about this topic: Oral Submucous Fibrosis
Famous quotes containing the word symptoms:
“The human condition is such that pain and effort are not just symptoms which can be removed without changing life itself; they are the modes in which life itself, together with the necessity to which it is bound, makes itself felt. For mortals, the “easy life of the gods” would be a lifeless life.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Social movements are at once the symptoms and the instruments of progress. Ignore them and statesmanship is irrelevant; fail to use them and it is weak.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)