Facies leprosa: resorption of maxillary anterior alveolar bone and the anterior nasal spine in patients with lepromatous leprosy in Mali.

Resorption of the anterior nasal spine and alveolar bone in the anterior maxilla was measured in 39 patients with lepromatous leprosy in Mali. Bone resorption occurred in both of these sites, but resorption in one did not predict resorption in the other. These data are interpreted to mean that resorptions of bone anterior (nasal spine) or inferior (alveolar bone) to bacillary populations in the nasal mucosa of patients with lepromatous disease in Mali occur independently.