Abstract: PURPOSE: To analyze oral tuberculosis in terms of clinical appearance, clinical differential diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. METHODS: From November 2012 to June 2016, eleven patients with oral tuberculosis were treated. The patients' general condition, clinical symptoms and signs, imaging modalities, pathological files, treatment and prognosis were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Among 11 patients, there were 6 males and 5 females with a mean age of 59.1 years, ranging from 48 to 78 years old. Five patients presented ulceration (four in gingiva and one in buccal region), four patients presented mass (one in gingival and three in buccal region), one patient presented osteomyelitis; only one patient presented enlargement of cervical lymph nodes. Five patients' chest radiography showed sequelae of pulmonary tuberculosis. Two of ten patients received drug therapy after surgical biopsy, and eight patients received surgical resection of mass in the oral cavity. After being diagnosed as oral tuberculosis by pathological examination, six patients received purified protein derivative examination, and four of them received drug therapy against tuberculosis. The mean follow-up period was 24.9 months ranging from 8 to 48 months, with one patient loss to follow-up, no lesion recurrence was found during the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Oral tuberculosis is rare, with no specific clinical appearance. Pathology and other examinations are necessary for diagnosis of oral tuberculosis. The treatment of oral tuberculosis is suggested as surgical resection or surgical resection combined with drug therapy against tuberculosis. The prognosis of oral tuberculosis is fine.

Key words: Oral tuberculosis, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prognosis