A Three Year Retrospective Study of Prevalence of Patients with Oral Lesions Hospitalized in ENT Ward of Qaem Hospital

The aim of this research was to study the prevalence of patients with oral lesions admitted in ENT ward of a university hospital (Qaem hospital). in a retrograde study we reviewed the existing data and the medical records of patients admitted between May 1999-2002 (Khordad 1378-81). Their pathology results were also added to our study sheets. from 3497 patients who admitted in ENT ward during the study period, 141 cases were hospitalized because of their oral lesions of which 4 were excluded due to lack of medical documents. From the remaining 137 cases, the most common lesion was cleft palate (45.99%), followed by dental abscesses (15.32%), oral SCC (13.14%), salivary gland tumor and hemangioma (4/38%). Other lesions were sialadenitis, carcinoma of maxillary sinus, pseudoepithelial hyperplasia, central giant cell granuloma, fibrouse dysplasia, ranula, epidermoid cyst, thyrogloss cyst, ameloblastoma, lymphangioma, angiofibroma. The most common location was maxilla (35.19%) and men were more affected than women. Our study revealed that if patients (except for developmental anomalies like cleft palate) refer in an early stage to their dentist, they can be treated as outpatients. These findings emphasize the important role of public education and periodic examinations by dentists and the key role of preventive dentistry in oral health in general. Another problem to be addressed is that during the short course of education in ENT ward (one month for dental students) few number of cases with oral lesions may be observed, so it seems that this short course has little role in the educational programs of dental students and it should be revised.