A 30-Year Retrospective Epidemiological Study of Oral Dysplastic Lesions in an Iranian Population

Background and Aim: Dysplastic lesions are characterized by replacement of parts or all of the epithelium thickness with cells with variable degrees of atypia and abnormal maturation. The aim of this study was to clinicopathologically evaluate oral dysplastic lesions recorded in the Oral Pathology Department of Isfahan Dental School during a 30-year period. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 130 records of patients diagnosed with dysplastic lesions at the Oral Pathology Department of Isfahan Dental School from 1989 to 2018. The patients’ data were entered into SPSS version 23 and analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney test, and Spearman’s correlation test. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: From 11,964 recorded cases during the abovementioned 30-year period, 130 cases were oral dysplastic lesions. Most of the patients were in their fifth and sixth decades of life (24.6% and 23.3%, respectively). There was no significant correlation between the severity of dysplasia and gender (p=0.45). Sixty-two cases (47.7%) had white and red lesions in clinical examination. Buccal mucosa was the most common site of involvement. The most commonly recorded clinical differential diagnoses included lichen planus, leukoplakia, and squamous cell carcinoma, in decreasing order of frequency. Conclusion: Considering the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of oral dys-plastic lesions, having comprehensive and up-to-date information about their clinico-pathological characteristics is necessary. Since most of such lesions have mild dys-plastic changes, their aggravation and malignant transformation can be prevented by early diagnosis.