What are signs of leukoplakia?

White lesions: Leukoplakia arewhite lesions in the mouth and can be caused by different irritants.

Latin: Translates to "white plaque". Dentist's are trained to recognize questionable intraoral tissue changes. Changes should be noticed at routine dental exams. If present, your dentist might refer you to an oral surgeon or oral pathologist for further evaluation.

White Patches: Leuko means white and plakia means plaque or patch. It is a description and not a diagnosis. There is a wide spectrum of mucosal diseases with this description from benign hyper keratosis (thickening of the top keratin layer so it looks white) to dysplasia (early cancer changes within the epithelium outer layer) to carcinoma-in-sito (cancer in outer layer) to full cancer. See a dentist or ENT md.