Common oral lesions found during a mass screening examination

The largest mass screening of older Americans for oral mucosal diseases.  Published in the Journal of the American Dental Association in 1986; 112:50-57.

Author

Bouquot JE. Professor & Chairman, Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, West Virginia University; Professor & Section Head, Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, West Virginia University.  Dr. Bouquot was a Junior Faculty Fellow of the American Cancer Society during part of this investigation.

Table 2: Gender-specific prevalence rates (per 1,000 population) for oral mucosal masses in U.S. adults, by gender, ranked by frequency.

Rank	Males		Females		Both Genders
	Diagnosis	Prev.*	Diagnosis	Prev.*	Diagnosis	Prev.*
1	Leukoplakia	45.2	Torus **	30.	Leukoplakia	29.1
2	Torus **	22.8	Leukoplakia	20.0	Torus **	27.6
3	Fordyce granules	17.7	Inflammation/Irritation	18.0	Inflammation/Irritation	17.3
4	Inflammation/Irritation	15.8	Irritation fibroma	11.4	Irritation fibroma	11.9
5	Irritation fibroma	13.0	Fordyce granuloma	5.2	Fordyce granules	9.4
6	Hemangioma	8.4	Inflammatory ulcer	5.1	Hemangioma	5.5
7	Inflammatory ulcer	5.4	Epulis fissuratum	4.4	Inflammatory ulcer #	5.2
8	Papilloma	5.3	Papilloma	4.2	Papilloma	4.6
9	Smokeless tobacco keratosis	4.3	Hemangioma	4.1	Epulis fissuratum	4.1
10	Fissured tongue	3.5	Papillary hyperplasia	3.8	Varicosities	3.4
11	Varicosities	3.5	Varicosities	3.4	Fissured tongue	3.2
12	Geographic tongue	3.4	Fissured tongue	3.1	Geographic tongue	3.1
13	Epulis fissuratum	3.4	Geographic tongue	3.0	Papillary hyperplasia	3.1
14	Herpes labialis	2.4	Herpes labialis	2.6	Herpes labialis	2.5
15	Hyperplastic lingual tonsil	2.4	Mucocele	2.6	Mucocele	2.4
16	Scar tissue	2.4	Scar tissue	1.9	Scar tissue	2.1
17	Hematoma	2.0	Angular cheilitis	1.9	Angular cheilitis	1.9
18	Mucocele	1.9	Frictional keratosis	1.4	Hyperplastic lingual tonsil	1.6
19	Angular cheilitis	1.8	Hematoma	1.4	Hematoma	1.6
20	Papillary hyperplasia	1.7	Hyperplastic lingual tonsil	1.2	Smokeless tobacco keratosis	1.4
21	Lichen planus	1.2	Lichen planus	1.1	Frictional keratosis	1.2
22	Black hairy tongue	1.2	Amalgam tattoo	1.0	Lichen planus	1.1
23	Buccal exostosis	0.9	Melanotic macule	1.0	Buccal exostosis	0.9
24	Median rhomboid glossitis	0.8	Buccal exostosis	0.9	Amalgam tattoo	0.9
25	Frictional keratosis	0.7	Median rhomboid glossitis	0.5	Melanotic macule	0.9
26	Epidermoid cyst	0.7	Smooth red tongue	0.5	Median rhomboid glossitis	0.6
27	Nicotine palatinus	0.6	Epidermoid cyst	0.4	Black hairy tongue	0.6
28	Amalgam tattoo	0.6	Lipoma	0.4	Smooth red tongue	0.5
29	Smooth red tongue	0.6	Oral tonsil (nonlingual)	0.3	Epidermoid cyst	0.5
30	Melanotic macule	0.6	Black hairy tongue	0.3	Lipoma	0.5
Total		174.2		135.1		147.6

     * total examined population = 23,616 adults; total number of masses = 1,453
    ** included: 35 hematomas, 1 pyogenic granuloma, 2 hyperplastic buccinator lymph nodes, 1 neurofibroma, 1 nasoalveolar
       cyst