Introduction:

syphilis is a bacterial infection, which is transmitted by sexual contact or congenitally. This disease develops in three stages, in which different oral manifestations can occur.

Material and method:

a search was made in the PubMed database, using as keywords: "sexually transmitted diseases", "venereal diseases", "syphilis", "primary syphilis", "secondary syphilis", "tertiary syphilis", "Oral manifestations", "oral lesions". The inclusion criteria were: case series, studies in which the main theme was the oral manifestations of syphilis and works in English and Spanish. There was no restriction by date.

Results:

a total of 18 articles were selected, the total sample of patients was 201. 10.05% had primary syphilis, 52.76% secondary syphilis and 36, 68% tertiary syphilis. The predominant oral lesions of primary syphilis were ulcers, inflammation, syphilitic chancre; in secondary syphilis there were mucous patches, erythematous lesions, inflammation, papular lesions, macular lesions, erosive lesions; in tertiary syphilis, syphilitic gums, leukoplastic lesions and lingual atrophy.

Discussion:

Syphilis is a bacterial infection that can simulate various diseases, it is very important to take it into account when making the differential diagnosis of various oral lesions, especially those that occur in an ulcerative, indurated and asymptomatic form.

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