Oral Manifestations of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease that is characterized by clinical heterogeneity and irregularities in its course. The etiology and pathogenesis of this pathology are not well-understood, so there is difficulty in establishing a diagnosis and treatment plan with certainty. The aim of this systematic review is to present a qualitative synthesis of studies referring to the oral manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This systematic review was performed following the PRISMA guideline. On this basis, a search for articles was performed in the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases on 19 November 2021 and updated on 15 February 2022. We chose articles published between 2012 and 2022 that analyzed the oral manifestations of SLE patients. The quality of all these studies was analyzed following the STROBE scale. A total of 15 articles were included in this study after selection. The selected articles were cross-sectional, case-control, and cohort studies. The most frequently associated oral manifestations with SLE were oral ulcers, hyposalivation, pigmentations, glossodynia, cleft tongue, cheilitis, arthritis, and secondary Sjögren's syndrome. However, despite the importance of the perception of these oral manifestations in the early diagnosis of SLE, there are still not enough studies about them.