Abstract

MOREIRA, Ana Regina Oliveira et al. Epidemiological survey of oral and maxillofacial epithelial diseases: a 20-year history. RGO, Rev. gaúch. odontol. (Online) [online]. 2011, vol.59, n.1, pp. 65-70. ISSN 1981-8637.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the prevalence of oral and maxillofacial epithelial diseases diagnosed by the Department of Pathology of Instituto Maranhense de Oncologia Aldenora Bello, São Luís, Maranhão, from January 1985 to December 2005. METHODS: Age, gender and lesion site were collected from the records of the selected cases. RESULTS: After a descriptive analysis, the sample included 784 cases. The prevalences of malignant and benign lesions were 69% and 31%, respectively. Squamous cell carcinoma (49.23%) and focal epithelial hyperplasia (9.82%) were the most common malignant and benign lesions, respectively. Males composed 53% of the sample and were more likely to have malignant lesions. People aged 0 to 39 years were more likely to have benign lesions while older individuals were more likely to have malignant ones. The commonest lesion site was the tongue (24%) but the upper lip prevailed as the most common site for benign lesions. CONCLUSION: Contrary to benign epithelial diseases, malignant epithelial diseases occur in older patients and were prevailed in this study possibly because the abovementioned institution is a referral center for cancer patients.

Keywords : Mouth diseases; Epidemiology; Mouth mucosa.