@blinken == I've made the same surmise, that the vaccine (maybe any vaccine) can, as you say, "wake the sleeping dog." When I look back on my life, I remember how my gums became inflamed in my mid-20s and how dentists would denigrate me, assuming my hygiene was inadequate--even though I brushed, and flossed!, daily, and was having cleanings twice a year. Two hygienists over the years expressed dismay and one actually told me I had OLP (back in 1999). The dentist pooh-poohed the idea.

After my Covid shot, I developed lesions. I knew. Went to the dentist, told him I thought I had OLP, and he looked at me like I was a stupid woman enamored of Dr. Google. Then he examined me, pointed to just one lesion, and said yes, that might be OLP. So he sent me to an oral surgeon who took the confirming biopsy. Vindication!

So, yes, the autoimmune response spurred by the vax probably threw a condition on a low boil into a rolling boil. The same thing happened when I contracted Covid itself a year later, because disease itself causes an autoimmune response too. We've got an autoimmune disease and may have had autoimmune conditions in the past that weren't noticed. E.g., I've had autoimmune responses to spider bites in the past, with RH factor turning up in my blood work. I also never had problems with my gums until I got a couple of gold fillings back in the 1970s. They may have been the trigger.

It's hard to know for sure about these things. Recently I read an interesting article pointing out that people want to look for an ultimate cause of their conditions when, in fact, there may be multiple causes.

Good luck, everyone, and maybe try not to be tortured by what-ifs and whys. ❤️