Course of oral thrush | Gingivostomatitis herpeticaThe oral thrush

Course of oral thrush

In the oral cavity there is a characteristic course of the “mouth rot”. At first, numerous pinhead-sized blisters appear on highly inflamed mucous membranes. The number is about fifty to over one hundred individual vesicles.

However, these only have a short residence time and turn into yellowish, mostly circular depressions, so-called erosions. They are surrounded by a highly red rim and are covered with a fibrin layer (a protein of the blood clotting system). At this stage, the affected person suffers severe pain.

The mucous membrane changes occur mainly in the front and middle area of the oral cavity. At the same time, the entire oral mucosa is affected by severe gingivitis (= inflammation of the gums). The gums are bright red, swollen and covered with a fibrin coating.

This causes unpleasant bad breath, which is why the disease of gingivostomatitis herpetica is commonly called oral thrush. The surrounding lymph nodes swell, are bulging and hard and very painful to touch. Swallowing difficulties are also possible.

The affected person has increased salivation and severe discomfort when brushing his teeth, as the swollen gums cause unpleasant pain every time they are touched. The initially rapidly developing symptoms within the oral cavity usually subside within ten to fourteen days under bed rest and resting. Although “oral thrush” has a relapsing-like, very painful course, it usually subsides without after-effects after two to a maximum of three weeks, without scars remaining in the oral cavity or similar.

However, care must be taken to protect the body and not to overexert oneself in order not to risk complications such as myocarditis or meningitis in children, which would cause permanent damage to the brain and meninges. Physical contact should also be avoided because of the risk of infection until the disease is over. The incubation period of gingivostomatitis herpetica, i.e. the time it takes for the disease to progress from infection to onset, is four to six days.

Only after this time does the acute disease begin and the first symptoms appear. These include fever, fatigue, vomiting and severe agitation. Even a tendency to convulsions and typical changes in the oral cavity with bad breath, increased salivation and regional swelling of the lymph nodes occur.

If patients are already carriers of the herpes virus, there is often no outbreak of oral thrush.However, if some people are affected by several factors, such as stress or other infections, a sudden outbreak of the disease can occur. The disease progresses rapidly, with painful mucous membrane defects following fever. It reaches its peak already after 2-3 days. Then the healing phase begins, which lasts another 3 days. The duration of the disease should therefore not exceed 7-10 days.