A patient seeks help for recurrent palatal pain. She presents with multiple punctate ulcers in the hard palate that were preceded by tiny blisters. Her lesions typically heal in about 2 weeks and reappear during stressful times. She has _____.
High-Yield Explanation
Recurrent intraoral herpes simplex infections occur only in the hard palate and hard gingiva, with the exception of AIDS patients. Blister (vesicle) history and recurrence are also supportive of this diagnosis.