Profile of Patients with White Lesions of the Oral Mucosa Treated at a Dental School in Southern Brazil

Introduction: Oral diseases are frequent in dentistry. It is important to know the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of a series of cases of white lesions to intercept possible cancerous lesions of the oral cavity, enabling proper diagnosis and correct treatment. Aim: The aim of this study was to go through the profile of a series of patients with white oral lesions treated at the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Passo Fundo, RS. Brazil, in a 2 years period. Materials and Methods: The records of patients treated between July 2017 and June 2019 were analysed. In a total of 3.000 patients were initially analysed, 1,829 (60.96%) were women and 1,171 (39.04%) were men. The epidemiological data of the individuals (geographic region of origin, age, gender, ethnicity and deleterious habits)were collected, as well as clinical data regarding lesions (clinical or histopatologic diagnosis (depending on the lesion), aetiology, surface keratinization, treatment performed and time of evolution). Data collected were entered into Microsoft Excel spread sheet and analysed using SPSS version 23.0 software. Chi-square test was used to compare categorical variables at 95% significance level. Results: It was observed that white lesions were more prevalent in males (25-69.4%), who were in the sixth decade of life (1747.2%), white people (31-86.1%), that inhabited the southwest Rio-Grandense (35-97.2%). As for lesions, actinic chelitis (8-22.2%), with "excessive sun exposure" (8-22.2%) and non scrapable surface (24-66.7%) were the most frequent lesions. No cases of leukoplakia were identified. The most common form of treatment for the lesions was laser therapy (7-19.7%) and the evolution time was up to three months (24-66.7%). The majority of the patients (19-52.8%) were neither smoker nor alcoholic (27-75.0%). Conclusion: Actinic cheilitis was the most prevalent lesion. The cancerous lesions included in the sample (lichen planus, nicotine stomatitis, frictional keratosis and actinic cheilitis) demonstrate a significant presence in the sixth decade of life and men had more deleterious habits when compared to women in the studied region.