Frequency of different oral lesions in children and adolescents in Babol, Northern Iran

Background: Few studies regarding oral lesions of children and adolescents were reported in the medical literature. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of these lesions in patients from birth to 20 years old in Babol, Northern Iran.Methods: The slides of all cases of oral lesions in children and adolescents, between 1990 and 2012 were obtained from the pathology archives of Shahid Beheshti Hospital and School of Dentistry, Babol University of Medical Sciences in Iran. The lesions were categorized as follows: cystic lesions, tumor/tumor-like lesions and inflammatory/reactive lesions. The data were collected and analyzed.Results: The 244 retrieved cases accounted for 27% of total oral biopsies (8956) were performed during this period. Male to female ratio was 0.8. Inflammatory / reactive category (61.9%), tumor/ tumor-like category (23%) and cystic category (15.2%) were in order of frequency. Mucocele was seen in 55 (35.8%) of 151 cases of inflammatory/ reactive, centeral giant cell granoloma (CGCG) in 15 (26.8%) of 56 tumor/ tumor like and radicular cyst in 14 (37.9%) of 37 cystic lesions. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that mucocele, CGCG and radicular cyst were frequent lesions in inflammatory / reactive, tumor / tumor like and cystic categories, respectively in our region.