The Prevalence and Diagnostic Patterns of Oral and Maxillofacial Lesions: A Seven-Year, Retrospective, Single-Center Cone Beam Computed Tomography and Histopathology Study in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of oral and maxillofacial lesions among patients at King Abdulaziz University from January 2016 to December 2022. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study included patients diagnosed with oral and maxillofacial intra-bony lesions based on radiological findings and confirmed by histopathological examination. The lesions were classified according to the fourth edition of the World Health Organization Classification of Head and Neck Tumors. Results: This study included 237 patients with a mean age of 31.53 ± 14.97 years, of which 45.1% were female. Most patients (46.7%) had mandibular lesions, followed by maxillary lesions (35.9%). Only 2.95% of the tumors were malignant. Odontogenic cysts were the most prevalent (65.40%), with radicular cysts and keratocytes being the most common types. The most prevalent tumor types were odontoma and ameloblastoma. The most malignant lesion was multiple myeloma. Conclusions: Our findings reveal that mandibular cystic lesions predominated, and emphasize the low incidence of malignancy in the study population. They provide valuable insights into the oral and maxillofacial lesion landscape at a high-volume tertiary care center.