ORAL COMPLICATIONS OF CHRONIC ALCOHOLISM: SIGNIFICANCE, RECOGNITION AND TREATMENT

For this consideration we do not know whether the mouth lesions here to be described should be classed as complications of or as an essential part of the complex disease caused by the chronic use of alcohol. We know they occur very often and are the forerunner of a serious condition known as alcoholic pellagra, which is probably a deficiency disease. In that sense the mouth lesions are a complication. If, however, it is ultimately learned that all the important lesions of chronic alcoholism are due to the fact that the alcoholic addict substitutes "drink" for food or that alcohol so deranges his digestion that he cannot utilize food, either one or both devices may be present, then we should rightly say that these mouth lesions are an essential part of a complex deficiency disease known as chronic alcoholism. No one will know the importance of deficiencies in the pathology