DEFINITION.—A loss of blood from the mouth.
SYNONYM.—Stomatorrhagia.
ETIOLOGY.—Hemorrhage from the mouth is usually a symptom of some disease or injury of the mouth, tongue, gums, palate, pharynx, or nose. It may, however, occur as one of the phenomena of scorbutus or of hæmophilia. It is said to occur occasionally as a vicarious menstruation. It may be slight, so as barely to tinge the saliva, or it may be profuse enough to terminate fatally. Between these extremes there is an infinity of gradations. As a result of disease it may be caused by simple hyperæmia of the mucous membrane, by rupture of dilated blood-vessels, by ulceration, by gangrene. As a result of injury it may arise from wounds of various kinds, accidental or self-inflicted.
The gums are the most frequent source of slight hemorrhage from the mouth. The pharynx, probably, is the next most frequent seat. Hemorrhage from the tongue, cheeks, lips, and palate is usually traumatic or the result of ulceration.
SYMPTOMATOLOGY, COURSE, DURATION, COMPLICATIONS, TERMINATIONS, AND SEQUELÆ.—The symptoms of hemorrhage from the mouth are the presence of blood in the saliva or in the mouth itself, or in the expelled products of expectoration, emesis, or catharsis, for sometimes the blood is swallowed, and occasionally inhaled into the air-passages. The course, duration, complications, and terminations of stomatorrhagia depend upon its cause. Prolonged hemorrhage will entail anæmia; profuse hemorrhage may terminate fatally.
DIAGNOSIS.—Careful examination of the mouth, tongue, pharynx, and posterior nares, both by direct and by reflected light, may be necessary to discover the source of the hemorrhage and discriminate it from hæmoptysis and hæmatemesis.
PROGNOSIS.—The prognosis will depend upon the nature of the cause, its susceptibility of arrest, the quantity of blood lost, and the general health of the patient. It is grave, as a rule, in the subjects of hæmophilia, as there is a constitutional malnutrition of the blood-vessel system which cannot be counteracted.
TREATMENT.—Ergot or oil of turpentine internally, astringent mouth-washes, and recumbency constitute the main features in treatment.
Morbid Dentition.
DEFINITION.—Departure from the physiological processes concerned in the eruption of teeth, entailing certain local and systemic disorders.