The Maxillofacial Center for Diagnostics & Research

Odd tongues: the prevalence of common tongue lesions in 23,616 white Americans over 35 years of age

Bouquot JE, Gundlach KKH

Results of a survey of the examination of a large number of adult Minnesotans.  Published in Quintessence International in 1986; 17:719-730.

Table 1: Summary of the larger prevalence studies of tongue lesions, encompassing 384,130 persons examined worldwide, listed by date of publication.  Modified from: Bouquot JE, Gundlach KKH. Odd tongues: the prevalence of common tongue lesions in 23,616 white Americans over 35 years of age. Quintess Internat 1986; 17:719-730.



Author(s)

Country

Year

Population Size		 Number of lesions/1,000 persons examined *
GT FT HT MRG HLT Macro
Comby J France 1912     ??        
Hanhart E Switzerland 1934 3,260 **   67.8        
Seiler A Switzerland 1936 1,625 **   99.0        
Martin HE, Howe ME USA 1938         ??    
Rolleri F Germany 1939 3,113 **   67.8        
McCarthy F USA 1941 2,301 # 23.9 21.7 3.9 2.2   0.4
Eichenlaub FJ USA 1941 6,468 # 3.3          
Halperin V, et al USA 1953 2,478 ## 13.7 52.8   3.2    
Rahaminoff P, Muhsam HV Israel 1957 8,305 ** 150.0          
Kocsard E, et al Australia 1958              
Kaplan BJ England 1961 1,953 ##   41.0 72.0      
Togo T Japan 1961 1,8503 ** 83.3          
Meskin LH, Redman, Gorlin USA 1963 3,668 ## 11.5          
Witkop CJ Jr, Barros L Chile 1963 1,906 ** 7.0 120.7   4.0   0.5
Redman RS, et al USA 1966 2,094 @ 2.9          
Bhaskar SN USA 1968              
Richardson ER USA 1968 3,319 ^ 10.8     1.5    
Luigi G Italy 1968 3,274 ** 28.7 59.2 11.6 33.5    
Schaumann BF, Peagler, FD, Gorlin RJ USA 1970 956 ^ 19.9 53.4 3.1 4.2   1.0
Redman RS USA 1970 3,611 ## 14.0     1.0    
Knapp MJ USA 1971 181,3888 ^^         0.3  
Aboyans V, Ghaemnaghami Iraq 1973 4,009 **   25.6        
Chosack A, Zadik D, Elieger Israel 1974 70,359 ** 19.0          
Fischman SL Paraquay 1974 3,118 #   82.8        
Wyk CW, van Dreyer WP, Konviser JV Malaysia 1974              
Hume WJ USA 1975              
Sedano HO Argentina 1975 6,180 ** 15.0     1.0    
Axell T Sweden 1975 20,333 ## 84.5 64.8 5.8 0.5    
Ghose LJ, Baghdady VS Iraq 1982 6,090 ** 43.0 26.0        
Sawyer DR, Taiwo EO, Mosadomi A Nigeria 1984 2,203 ** 3.0 8.0        
Bouquot JE, Gundlach KKH USA 1986 23,616 ## 3.2 3.2 0.6 0.6 1.6 0.04
  Average   15,365 52.9 52.9 16.2 4.7 1.0 1.9
  Median   3,260 14.5 53.4 4.9 1.3 1.0 0.4

     * diagnosis codes: GT = geographic tongue; FT = fissured tongue; HT = hairy tongue; MRG = median
       rhomboid glossitis; HLT = hyperplastic lingual tonsil; Macro = macroglossia
    ** children
     # patients referred for oral/dental problems
   ## adults
   @ mentally retarded persons
     ^ blacks only
    ^^ army recruits (young males)

Table 2: Gender-specific prevalence rates (per 1,000 persons) for mucosal tongue disorders , ranked by overall frequency.  Modified from: Bouquot JE, Gundlach KKH. Odd tongues: the prevalence of common tongue lesions in 23,616 white Americans over 35 years of age. Quintess Internat 1986; 17:719-730.



Rank

Diagnosis

Number

of Lesions

 No. lesions/1,000 persons
Males Females Both Genders
1 Lingual varicosities 81 3.5 3.4 3.4
2 Fissured tongue 77 3.5 3.1 3.2
3 Georgraphic tongue 74 3.4 3.0 3.1
4 Leukoplakia * 62 2.4 2.8 2.6
5 Irritation fibroma 57 2.6 2.3 2.4
6 Papilloma 49 2.7 1.7 2.1
7 Hyperplastic lingual tonsil 38 2.4 1.2 1.6
8 Inflammation/Irritation 22 0.7 1.1 0.9
9 Hemangioma 18 1.1 0.6 0.8
10 Median rhomboid glossitis 15 0.8 0.5 0.6
11 Hairy tongue 14 1.2 1.3 0.6
12 Smooth red tongue 13 0.6 0.5 0.5
13 Inflammatory ulcer ** 12 0.8 0.3 0.5
14 Hematoma 6 0.2 0.3 0.3
15 Epithelial cyst 6 0.5 0.1 0.3
16+ Other # 20 0.8 0.9 0.9
Total  

564

 27.3 22.0 23.9

  * includes 3 men with early invasive squamous cell carcinoma, 3 with severe epithelial dysplasia, and 56 men and women
     with no dysplasia or carcinoma
** includes aphthous ulcers and traumatic ulcers, about evenly divided
  # excludes 64 lesions with ambiguous or nonspecific diagnoses