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Shingles & Mouth Pain

Shingles is a painful, but not life threatening condition. Shingles can be experienced at any point in life, but is most common in adults over the age of 50.

  1. Features

    • Shingles is a viral infection that produces a painful rash. It can occur anywhere on the body, but most commonly manifests itself on the chest and back.

    Identification

    • Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which also causes chicken pox. This virus lays inactive in the nerve tissue near the spinal cord and brain.

    Symptoms

    • Shingles first causes patients to feel pain at a certain point of the body; this is followed by an irritating rash. Patients also feel headaches, fatigue and fever.

    Mouth Pain

    • Shingles can manifest itself in and around the mouth. This will cause patients to feel extreme pain in the mouth in the days preceding the rash. After a few days of pain, sores will appear on either side of the mouth.

    Considerations

    • When shingles manifests itself in the mouth it is considered serious. The disease must be treated as a complex herpes infection. Even after the rash is cleared up, shingles can cause a patient to feel pain in the mouth for months, and possibly years after.

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