A Case of Perioral Dermatitis Possibly Caused by Allergy to Gold in Dental Alloys

We report a case of perioral dermatitis due to gold in dental metal. A 67-year-old woman had a dental prosthesis attached by a family dentist six months before visiting our hospital for first medical examination. A few days later, she had erythema around the lips. Patch testing of metal series and lymphocyte stimulation test showed positive results to gold chloride. Her condition resolved three months after removal of the dental prosthesis containing gold. The clinical course and the results of tests suggest the cause of this case is the allergy to gold in a newly attached dental prosthesis. We discuss possible mechanisms of perioral dermatitis due to dental metal with reference to the literature, although the pathomechanism was still unclear.