EPIDEMIOLOGY OF ORAL MUCOSAL LESIONS IN UNITED-STATES SCHOOLCHILDREN - 1986-87

Oral mucosal lesion findings from a national multistage probability or al health survey of United States schoolchildren in kindergarten throu gh grade 12 are reported. In the 1986-87 school year 39206 children ag ed 5-17 yr were examined by 14 dentists trained in standardized clinic al diagnostic criteria for dental caries. periodontal conditions and o ral mucosal lesions. In addition all children were asked whether or no t they ever had ''cold sores.'' ''fever blisters,'' or ''canker sores' ', and adolescents (grades 6-12) were questioned about their history o f tobacco use. About 4% of the children had one or more oral mucosal l esions present at the time of the examination, while 33 and 37% report ed a history of recurrent herpes labialis and recurrent aphthous ulcer s, respectively. The most prevalent lesions clinically observed were r ecurrent aphthous ulcers (1.23%), recurrent herpes labialis (0.78), sm okeless tobacco lesions (0.71), and geographic tongue (0.60). Differen ces in prevalence were analyzed by age, sex, race, metropolitan area, and geographic region. Almost 10% of 12-17-yr-olds reported current us e of some type of tobacco product. In adolescents the current use of t obacco products had a marked effect on the prevalence of oral lesions.