Prevalence of Oral Anomalies and Pathologies in the Pakistani Population – A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

NTRODUCTION: Comprehensive head and neck examinations require sound knowledge of the population's oralanatomy, its variation, and common pathologies to distinguish between anomalous and pathological processes. Sincelimited data on this subject is available from Pakistan, the aim of this investigation is to determine the prevalence of oralanomalies and pathologies in healthy, Pakistani, dental patients. This will establish baseline statistics for the Pakistanipopulation, and contribute to the international epidemiological data.METHODOLOGY: A total of 1293 consenting, dental patients between the ages of 5-90 years underwent comprehensivehead and neck examinations. Any mucosal anomaly or abnormality identified during the exam was recorded.RESULT: At least one anomaly, or abnormality was noted in 61% of the population. The most commonly documentedentity was linea alba (29.8%, n=324), followed by benign oral pigmentation (11.3%, n=146), coated tongue (5.7%, n=74),prominent papillae in (5.1%, n=71), fissured tongue (5%, n=65), varicosities (4.8%, n=62), ulcers in (4%, n=52), Fordyce'sgranules (2.5%, n=32) and white patches (1.8%, n=23).CONCLUSION: It is essential for dental professionals to be familiarized with the anatomical variations of the oral cavity,oral anomalies and common pathological processes to avoid misdiagnosis and prevent undue distress to the patient.