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A retrospective analysis of oral and maxillofacial pathology in an Australian paediatric population
1School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland.
Background:
The prevalence of oral and maxillofacial pathology has not previously been reported in the Australian paediatric population. This study aimed to audit a large pathology service to provide insight into the prevalence of oral and maxillofacial pathology.
Methods:
Written records of a major Australian oral pathology service were imported into an electronic database. Age, gender and histological diagnosis were assessed. Prevalence of histological diagnoses as a percentage of the major diagnostic categories and of the whole sample were calculated, as well as gender predilections and mean age of presentation of disease.
Results:
A total of 1305 oral pathology specimens, collected from paediatric patients aged 16 and under were included in the analysis. The most common pathology was dental pathology (24.4%), followed by odontogenic cysts (18.5%) and mucosal pathology (17.0%). The most frequently encountered lesion was the dentigerous cyst (9.4%), followed by fibrous hyperplasia (8.3%), radicular cyst (5.2%) and chronic periapical granuloma (5.2%).
Conclusions:
In the paediatric population, dental pathology and specifically, the dentigerous cyst is the most common pathology type sent for histopathology, suggesting a high prevalence of pathology of dental origin occurring in Australian children.
