Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (Nov 2019)
Profile of Patients with White Lesions of the Oral Mucosa Treated at a Dental School in Southern Brazil
Abstract
Introduction: Oral diseases are frequent in dentistry. It is important to know the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of a series of cases of white lesions to intercept possible cancerous lesions of the oral cavity, enabling proper diagnosis and correct treatment. Aim: The aim of this study was to go through the profile of a series of patients with white oral lesions treated at the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil, in a 2 years period. Materials and Methods: The records of patients treated between July 2017 and June 2019 were analysed. In a total of 3,000 patients were initially analysed, 1,829 (60.96%) were women and 1,171 (39.04%) were men. The epidemiological data of the individuals (geographic region of origin, age, gender, ethnicity and deleterious habits) were collected, as well as clinical data regarding lesions {clinical or histopatologic diagnosis (depending on the lesion), aetiology, surface keratinization, treatment performed and time of evolution}. Data collected were entered into Microsoft Excel spread sheet and analysed using SPSS version 23.0 software. Chi-square test was used to compare categorical variables at 95% significance level. Results: It was observed that white lesions were more prevalent in males (25-69.4%), who were in the sixth decade of life (17- 47.2%), white people (31-86.1%), that inhabited the southwest Rio-Grandense (35-97.2%). As for lesions, actinic chelitis (8-22.2%), with “excessive sun exposure” (8-22.2%) and non scrapable surface (24-66.7%) were the most frequent lesions. No cases of leukoplakia were identified. The most common form of treatment for the lesions was laser therapy (7-19.7%) and the evolution time was up to three months (24-66.7%). The majority of the patients (19-52.8%) were neither smoker nor alcoholic (27-75.0%). Conclusion: Actinic cheilitis was the most prevalent lesion. The cancerous lesions included in the sample (lichen planus, nicotine stomatitis, frictional keratosis and actinic cheilitis) demonstrate a significant presence in the sixth decade of life and men had more deleterious habits when compared to women in the studied region.
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