A Survey of Oral and Maxillofacial Biopsies Over a 23-year Period in the Southeast of Iran

Statement of the Problem:

 The prevalence of oral and maxillofacial lesions differs in various populations and is an important concern for health care providers.

The present study aimed to evaluate the relative frequency and distribution of oral and maxillofacial lesions in patients referred to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Kerman Faculty of Dentistry in southeast Iran.

In the present retrospective study, the collected data consisted of age, gender, lesion location, and the clinical and histopathological diagnoses of all the biopsy samples diagnosed in 23 years (1997–2020). The data were analyzed with SPSS 22, using the chi-squared test and ANOVA (p< 0.05).

From 2092 lesions with a definite diagnosis, 1202 (57.5%) and 890 (42.5%) cases belonged to female and male patients, respectively. The mean age of the subjects was 39.06±17.71 years, and the most frequent location of the lesions was the buccal mucosa (25.2%). The frequencies and number of non-neoplastic lesions, neoplasms, and premalignant lesions were 84% (n=1758), 13.3% (n=278), and 2.7% (n=56), respectively. Reactive lesions were the most common cases, with 34.6% (n=724), and lichen planus was the most frequent lesion with 18.1% (n=379). Squamous cell carcinoma was the most frequent lesion in patients >70 years of age (27.6 %).

The present study provided useful data on the frequency and distribution of oral lesions over 23 years and made it possible to compare its results with those of studies carried out in other countries. Non-neoplastic lesions were the most common category, and lichen planus, pyogenic granuloma, and irritation fibroma were the most frequent lesions in descending order.