Relative frequency of oral focal reactive overgrowths: An institutional retrospective study

Focal fibrous hyperplasia, peripheral ossifying fibroma, pyogenic granuloma, peripheral giant cell granuloma, giant cell fibroma and focal reactive overgrowth (FROGs) are one of the foremost numerous benign soft-tissue growths in the oral cavity. Chronic irritation or trauma is with identified as the causative aspect. It may develop up to few centimeters in diameter, pedunculated or sessile and may arise on the gingiva or buccal mucosa. Treatment involves surgical excision, and recurrences are infrequent.

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of FROGs of oral mucosa in an institutional setup.

All the histopathologically diagnosed cases of FROGs within a period of 10 years (January 2008-December 2017) were retrieved from the archives of the Department of Oral Pathology. The information such as age, sex, site, anatomical side and its prevalence were recorded on customized case history performa.

The significance of difference was assessed using the Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test.

A total of 2849 cases were identified, of which 449 (15%) were FROGs. The most prevalent lesion amid them were focal fibrous hyperplasia (277, 62%), followed by pyogenic granuloma (92, 20%), whereas the least common was giant cell fibroma with 2 (0.5%) cases. All the FROGs were distributed among 21-40 years of age showing female predominance. The commonly affected site was the right buccal mucosa.

Nevertheless, information of the frequency and distribution of these lesions is favorable when establishing a diagnosis and treatment plan in clinical practice.