Prevalence of Aphthous Ulceration in patients attending Oral Diagnosis Clinics at School of Dentistry/University of Sulaimani

Background: Recurrent aphthus ulceration represents a common inflammatory ulcerative condition encountered in daily dental practice. The prevalence rate of this condition in different region of the world had shown considerable variation throughout different epidemiological studies. The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence and distribution of aphthous ulceration in comparison to the other oral lesions in patients attending Oral Diagnosis Department at School of Dentistry/ University of Sulaimani in four academic years. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective study performed on 59 patients recorded with aphthous ulceration at Oral Diagnosis clinic of the School of Dentistry at the University of Sulaimani for four consecutive academic years (from 2010 to 2014) by using the available case sheet files which included medical and dental history of the patients and relevant etiological factors (if present). Results: A total of 400 patients were recorded with a variety of oral lesions among these fifty nine (15%) patients were diagnosed with aphthous ulceration. Minor aphthous ulceration was the most common types (46 patients about 78% of all) and the majority was identified in male patients (33 patients about 56% of all) than female patients (26 patients about 44% of all). The highest numbers of patients were seen in the younger age groups (21-30 years of age) and the most frequent sites for the occurrence of aphthous ulceration was the internal surface of the lower lip (21 patients) followed by buccal mucosa (15 patients). Regarding the possible etiological factors for the development of aphthous ulceration in a large extent of patients were unknown, only minorities of patients were reported emotional stress as a possible etiological factor. Conclusions: Recurrent aphthous ulceration was more common in young males and the ulcers were mostly found on the non-keratinized surfaces of oral mucosa of lips and buccal mucosa.