The aim of this survey was to determine the prevalence of oral mucosa lesions in children aged 4-13 yr from two schools, one (S1) having a higher socioeconomic status than the other (S2). In all, 846 children were examined, 463 from S1 and 383 from S2, of whom 555 were boys and 291 were girls. There were 359 boys and 104 girls in S1; 196 boys and 187 girls in S2. Fifteen different lesion types were discerned. The most frequent ones were recurrent aphthous ulceration (RAU) (92 cases); fissured cheilitis (54); herpes labialis (44); angular cheilitis (30); geographic tongue (25); smooth tongue (22); and plicated tongue (17). An outstanding finding was the contrasting distribution of certain lesion types in the two schools. RAU was observed in 19% of the children from S1, making up 50% of all lesions detected. However, in S2 only 2% exhibited RAU, making up less than 4% of observed lesions. On the other hand, herpes labialis was seen in 1% of S1 and 10% of S2 children, regardless of age or sex. Plicated tongue was found in 3.2% in S1 and 0.5% in S2; fissured cheilitis in 2.9% in S1 and 12.8% in S2; and angular cheilitis in 1.1% in S1 and 6.5% in S2. Therefore, there were no statistical differences between the schools in the ratio of total lesions observed to children examined, but a significant difference was apparent when individual lesions were taken into account.

We propose the use of exfoliative cytology to monitor corrosion processes and for routine clinical follow up.

BACKGROUND: Dermoscopy is a non-invasive in vivo method rarely used for the diagnosis of oral pigmented lesions. OBJECTIVE: To analyze clinical, dermoscopic, and histologic features of Oral Melanotic Macules (OMMs), and to evaluate the usefulness of dermoscopy in the diagnosis of OMMs. METHODS: Fifty patients presenting solitary or multiple circumscribed pigmented lesions in the oral mucosa were included. RESULTS: OMMs were diagnosed in 19 patients (84% women and 16 % men); 52 % of patients had multiple lesions, 48% had one lesion. Lesion sites in decreasing order of frequency were the labial mucosa (63 %), gingiva (31.57 %), cheek mucosa (26.31%), labial semimucosa (21%), palate (10.52 %), alveolar ridge (5.26 %) and tongue (5.26 %). The dermoscopic pattern of OMMs was linear in 89 % of cases (47% parallel line, 35% fish scale-like, and 17% hyphal patterns). Histological analysis showed increased melanin in the basal cell layer in all cases with a linear dermoscopic pattern, slight acanthosis in 14 cases, and a slight increase in number of basal melanocytes in 13 cases. Globules were seen in 21% of cases corresponding histologically with increased melanin or melanophages in the lamina propria. The dermoscopic observation of symmetrical lines further enhances the diagnostic ability of dermoscopy in OMMs, with 73.68% sensitivity, 87.1% specificity, 77.78% positive predictive value, 84.38 % negative predictive value, 5.71 positive likelihood ratio, and 0.30 negative likelihood ratio. CONCLUSIONS: Dermoscopy may play a role in improving noninvasive diagnosis of oral pigmented lesions occurring on several areas of non-keratinized mucosa.

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