epidemiological study of oral and maxillofacial biopsies from geriatric patients in zahedan, iran (1996-2015)

introduction: as a result of aging process, oral mucosa becomes susceptible to oral diseases. having knowledge about prevalence and distribution of geriatric oral diseases is essential for prevention and treatment planning. this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of geriatric patients' oral biopsies in specimens obtained in medical centers of zahedan university of medical sciences. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted on 2496 cases of biopsied oral lesions found in pathology archive of medical centers of zahedan university of medical sciences throughout a 20-year period.  information about age, gender, lesion location and type of oral lesions of patients over 60 years old were collected and analyzed using spss software. results: in this cross-sectional study, 412 (16.5%) biopsy samples were taken from patients over 60 years old. most subjects were in their seventh decade (59.5%), male (56.1%) and soft tissue (96.6%). two hundred and sixty (63.1%) cases were neoplastic lesions and 152 (36.9%) were non-neoplastic. there was no significant relationship between the type of lesions (neoplastic and non-neoplastic) and age, gender and their location. the most prevalent lesions were oral squamous cell carcinoma (42.5%), non-specific inflammatory lesions (7.8%), irritation fibroma (3.4%) and oral verrucous carcinoma (3.4%). conclusion: since the malignant lesions were the most common oral lesions in the studied geriatric patients, oral health care must be prioritized in the general health policies.