Paediatric oral pathology in Thailand: a 15-year retrospective review from a medical teaching hospital.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether the spectrum of oral pathology in children seen at a medical institution differs from studies derived from dental facilities. METHODS: Oral biopsy records from paediatric patients (<16 years of age) were retrieved from the pathology archives at Chulalongkorn University Hospital over a period of 15 years. Lesions were categorised as inflammatory/reactive, tumour/tumour-like or cystic. RESULTS: Two-hundred and thirty biopsies were identified. Most lesions were inflammatory/reactive (62%), followed by tumour/tumour-like (35%) and cystic (3%). The largest proportion of lesions was found in the 12-16 years' age group. Mucocele was the most common lesion (38%), followed by hemangioma (8.3%), irritation fibroma (6%) and nevus (6%). The predominance of mucocele is similar to that in reports from other countries. The proportion of malignant tumours (5%) was higher than in other studies (<1-2%). In contrast, odontogenic cysts and odontogenic tumours were rare (3% and <1%, respectively), compared with published studies (7-35% and 2-21%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This study from a medical institution shows a somewhat different spectrum of paediatric oral pathology compared with that reported from dental institutions. While some of the lesions may not be treated by dentists, they still need to be aware of these lesions because affected patients can still present initially to a dentist.