Prevalence of oral mucosal lesions from birth to two years.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of lesions of the oral mucosa from birth to two years in Turkish pediatric patients . MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 299 infants from newborn to two years of age were evaluated from the Outpatient Clinics of the Pediatric Department, in the Fatih University Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. The mucosal lesions were documented. The data were presented as percentages and for categorical comparisons Chi-square or Fisher's Exact test were used. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS Of the 299 infants, mucosal lesions were seen in only 65 (21.27%). In the study, the most common lesions were candidiasis (10.70%), Ebstein's pearls (2.68%), and geographic tongue (2.68%). The frequency of children with mucosal alterations was higher in the group of children from two to twelve months. CONCLUSIONS Although the lesions that were found the most in our study were benign lesions, unrelated to systemic diseases, we still believe that oral mucosal lesions can be a sign of a systemic or dermatological disease in infants, which affects the oral feeding of the infants. Routine examination of the oral mucosa should be a part of the pediatric examination.