VA Disability Rating for Mouth Injuries (DC 7200)

Diagnostic Code 7200 · 38 CFR §4.114

What Is It?

DC 7200 assigns no percentage. In the current 38 CFR 4.114 the entry reads "Soft tissue injury of the mouth, other than tongue or lips: Rate as for disfigurement (diagnostic codes 7800 and 7804) and impairment of mastication," and the rating column beside it is empty. It is a routing instruction, not a rating table — the code tells VA where to go, and the percentage comes from wherever it sends you. Note the title, which the 2024 digestive rewrite sharpened (89 FR 19743, effective 19 May 2024): the code covers soft tissue of the mouth other than the tongue or the lips, because those have their own codes. Loss of the whole or part of the tongue is DC 7202, which does carry figures (100, 60 and 30 percent keyed to oral nutritional intake and prescribed dietary modification). Injuries of the lips are DC 7201, itself a routing code to disfigurement under DC 7800 and 7804. Anything involving the jaw, the palate or the teeth leaves the digestive schedule entirely for the dental and oral schedule at 38 CFR 4.150.

Rating Criteria

Evidence Needed

• Service records or an incident report documenting the injury event — blast, projectile, motor-vehicle, or surgical complication
• Oral surgery and dental operative reports describing exactly what tissue was lost or repaired
• A current examination that measures the residual: scar length and width, whether the scar is painful or unstable, and which of the eight characteristics of disfigurement in DC 7800 are present
• Colour photographs of the area, which DC 7800 expressly contemplates for evaluating disfigurement
• Objective measurement of mastication: inter-incisal range in millimetres and range of lateral excursion, which are what DC 9905 grades
• A prescribed dietary modification in writing if you cannot chew a normal diet — a prescription, not a self-report
• Speech pathology evaluation if articulation is affected; 38 CFR 4.150 Note (2) directs that loss of vocal articulation, smell, taste, neurological impairment and respiratory dysfunction be evaluated separately and combined

C&P Exam Tips

• Ask the examiner to record the inter-incisal opening and lateral excursion in millimetres — those numbers are the only thing the temporomandibular criteria in DC 9905 grade
• Point out each characteristic of disfigurement individually rather than describing the appearance generally; DC 7800 counts them
• Say whether the scar is tender on palpation and whether it breaks down, because DC 7804 turns on painful or unstable scars, not on their size
• Bring the written dietary restriction if you have one; a soft or liquid diet you adopted yourself is not the same evidence as one a provider prescribed
• List the separate functions affected — chewing, speech, taste, smell — so each gets its own evaluation instead of being folded into one impression

How to File

Claim the injury by what it left behind rather than by the code number. Describe the event, then list each residual separately — the visible scarring or disfigurement, whether the scar is painful, restricted jaw opening, lost teeth, altered speech, altered taste — and attach the operative reports and photographs. VA will route the claim through DC 7200 to the codes that carry percentages: DC 7800 or 7804 for the scarring, and the appropriate code for impairment of mastication. Dental and oral structures are rated under 38 CFR 4.150, and Note (2) to that section directs that loss of vocal articulation, smell, taste, neurological impairment and respiratory dysfunction each be evaluated under their own code and combined under 38 CFR 4.25 — so a single injury can support several evaluations.

Common Mistakes

• Expecting a percentage from DC 7200 itself. There is no table; every figure comes from the code the instruction sends you to.
• Filing one undifferentiated "mouth injury" claim instead of naming each residual, which is what causes functions to be folded together and under-rated.
• Leaving mastication unmeasured. Without an inter-incisal measurement in millimetres there is nothing for the temporomandibular criteria to grade.
• Forgetting the dental schedule. Teeth, jaw, ramus and hard palate are rated at 38 CFR 4.150, not in the digestive schedule where DC 7200 sits.
• Assuming a scar has to be large to count. DC 7804 rates scars that are painful or unstable regardless of area.

Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage does DC 7200 pay?

None on its own. The rating column for DC 7200 in 38 CFR 4.114 is empty. The entry directs VA to rate as disfigurement under DC 7800 and 7804 and to rate impairment of mastication, and the percentage comes from those codes.

Why does the code say "other than tongue or lips"?

Because those have their own entries. Loss of the whole or part of the tongue is DC 7202, which carries 100, 60 and 30 percent rows. Injuries of the lips are DC 7201, which routes to disfigurement under DC 7800 and 7804.

Can I be rated for both the scar and the chewing problem?

Yes. DC 7200 names both destinations — disfigurement or a painful scar, and impairment of mastication — and they are different functions rated under different codes, so both can be evaluated and combined under 38 CFR 4.25.

Where are damaged teeth and jaw rated?

Under 38 CFR 4.150, the dental and oral schedule. Loss of teeth is DC 9913, temporomandibular disorder is DC 9905, loss of the mandible or ramus has its own codes, and loss of the hard palate is DC 9911.

Does a 0 percent evaluation do anything for me?

It establishes service connection and preserves the effective date. If the residual scarring or chewing limitation worsens later, the claim for an increase runs from an already-connected condition rather than starting over.

What changed in 2024?

The digestive schedule was rewritten effective 19 May 2024. DC 7200 was retitled to "Soft tissue injury of the mouth, other than tongue or lips" and remains a routing instruction. The rewrite also removed several digestive codes entirely and rewrote the esophageal and ulcer entries.