Background/purpose: Although the general profile of oral biopsies from Asian children has been reported, it was still worth examining whether there were racial and geographic variations in the categories and incidence of pediatric oral lesions. This retrospective study mainly evaluated the categories and incidence of biopsied oral lesions in Taiwanese pediatric patients.
Methods: Biopsy records of all oral lesions from pediatric patients, aged 0-14 years, in the files of the Department of Pathology, National Taiwan University Hospital from 1988 to 2007 were evaluated. The patients were divided into three age groups (0-5, 6-10, and 11-14 years), and the oral lesions were classified into four main categories: inflammatory and reactive, cystic, neoplastic, and other lesions.
Results: Of a total of 11,986 biopsied oral lesions, 797 (6.6%) were found in pediatric patients. The most common oral lesions were inflammatory and reactive (45.5%), followed by neoplastic (23.5%), cystic (22.2%), and other (8.8%) lesions. The majority of oral biopsies (47.3%) were taken from patients in the 11-14 years age group. Of the 187 oral neoplastic lesions, 178 (95%) were benign and nine (5%) were malignant, including two premalignant lesions. The maxilla (66 cases) and the mandible (61 cases) were the two most common sites for pediatric neoplastic lesions. The top five oral lesions in pediatric patients were mucous extravasation phenomenon (195 cases), dentigerous cyst (84 cases), odontoma (83 cases), radicular cyst (38 cases), and dental follicle (26 cases).
Conclusion: The mucous extravasation phenomenon, odontoma, or dentigerous cyst was the most common inflammatory and reactive, neoplastic, or cystic lesion, respectively, in pediatric patients. The relatively high incidence of inflammatory and reactive lesions in pediatric patients implies the importance of stringent oral hygiene in children. Most oral neoplastic lesions in pediatric patients are benign, and malignant oral tumors rarely occur in pediatric patients.