Surgical considerations and management of patients with mucocutaneous disorders.

Surgeons may be confronted with providing periodontal plastic or implant therapy for patients with gingival manifestations of systemic conditions. These con - ditions (often referred to as mucocutaneous disorders) commonly present with features of desquamative gingivi- tis, which was once believed to represent a disease entity. However, today, the term desquamative gingivitisis used to describe clinical features of various local or systemic dis- eases or disorders that result in chronic gingival lesions char- acterized by epithelial desquamation, erythema, ulceration, and/or vesiculobullous lesions of the gingiva. Often, other oral tissues also are involved. Mucocutaneous disorders include such disease entities as lichen planus, graft-versus- host disease, pemphigoid, pemphigus vulgaris, lupus ery- thematosus, erythema multiforme, and linear IgA disease. Surgeons should be able to recognize these disorders and have the tools necessary to treat these conditions so that they can render the appropriate surgical care. This article describes the diagnosis, etiology, and clinical manifestation of these disease entities, as well as the surgical considera- tions and management in providing care to these patients.