epidemiologic study of benign soft tissue tumors of oral cavity in an iranian population

introduction: few studies on benign soft tissue tumors of oral cavity have been conducted in an iranian population. the purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of the benign soft tissue tumors of the oral cavity in three central pathology centers of rasht, iran. materials and methods: in this retrospective study, all benign soft tissue tumors of the oral cavity, were retrieved from razi, afrah and poursina hospital pathology laboratories during 2000 to 2008, and demographic data for each case was recorded. results: from 433(18.4%) benign soft tissue tumors, 395(91.2%) reactive and 38 neoplastic lesions (8.8%) were found. the mean age of the patients was 41.89±18.13 years. females constituted 65.4% of the population suffering from lesions. gingiva was the most common site of tumors (53.1%). the most common lesion in the reactive group was pyogenic granuloma (32.4%, n=128). hemangioma (39.5%, n=15) and lipoma (36.8%, n=14) were highly noticeable in the neoplastic group respectively.there was no significant correlation between gender and age, and the type of the tumor (neoplastic or reactive) except the site of involvement. however, a significant correlation existed between the site of lesion and the type of tumor. conclusion: the most common benign soft tissue tumor was pyogenic granuloma followed by irritation fibroma. most of the reactive lesions were found in gingiva.