The clinical characteristics of benign oral mucosal tumors

OBJECTIVES To investigate the clinical characteristics and pre- biopsy provisional diagnoses of benign oral mucosal tumors. MATERIAL AND METHODS A 10- year retrospective analysis of all benign tumors of the oral mucosa, from a university- affiliated oral and maxillofacial surgery department. RESULTS 146 benign tumors were included. The mean age was 49.6 years, with an approximately equal gender distribution. The most prevalent tumor types were lipomatous tumors (27.4%), vascular (23.3%), and salivary gland tumors (16.5%). Tongue, labial and buccal mucosa were the most frequently involved sites. The vast majority (98.6%) presented as non-ulcerated masses. Only 2 (1.4%) presented as ulcerated masses. The clinical provisional diagnosis correctly classified lesions as non-malignant in 93.3%. In only 9 (6.7%) suspicion of malignancy was included in the provisional diagnosis. However, benignneoplasia was unsuspected in 42.1% of tumors. These cases were clinically classified as reactive. CONCLUSION Benign tumors were most likely to be clinically correctly classified as non-malignant, but even in the setting of experienced oral surgeons, neoplasia was unsuspected in more than 40% of cases. This data strongly supports the need to biopsy every oral mucosal mass, since inaccurate clinical evaluation of the lesion's biological nature was a frequent event.