RESEARCH ARTICLE
Benign Oral Masses in a Northern Jordanian Population-a Retrospective Study
Taiseer Hussain Al-Khateeb*
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2009Volume: 3
First Page: 147
Last Page: 153
Publisher ID: TODENTJ-3-147
DOI: 10.2174/1874210600903010147
Article History:
Received Date: 23/2/2009Revision Received Date: 09/4/2009
Acceptance Date: 08/4/2009
Electronic publication date: 28/7/2009
Collection year: 2009

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the relative frequencies, types and distribution of benign oral masses in North Jordanians. The records of the Department of Pathology at Jordan University of Science & Technology were reviewed and analyzed for patients with benign oral soft tissue masses, received during an 11-year period (1991-2001). The main outcome measures were patients’ age and sex, and the mass type and location. A sum of 818 benign oral soft tissue masses (4% neoplastic and 96% non-neoplastic) was analyzed. Common benign neoplasms were salivary pleomorphic adenoma and lipoma. Non-neoplastic lesions consisted of traumatic (43%) inflammatory/ infective (33%), cystic (14%) and developmental (9%) lesions. Common non-neoplastic lesions were fibroepithelial polyp, pyogenic granuloma, mucoceles, hemangioma and squamous papilloma, in a descending order. There were 330 (40%) males and 488 (60%) females with a male to female ratio of 1: 1.5. The mean age was 33 years, with the majority in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th decades. The sites commonly affected by benign neoplasms were the palate, tongue, upper lip and buccal mucosa, in a descending order and the sites commonly affected by non-neoplastic lesions were the gingiva, buccal mucosa, lower lip and tongue in a descending order. It is concluded that some of the features of benign oral masses in north Jordanians published in this paper are similar to those from other countries, and some are different. Further nationwide population-based surveys are needed to further define the epidemiology of benign oral masses among Jordanians.