Caracterização clinicopatológica dos diagnósticos maxilofaciais em crianças e adolescentes: um levantamento institucional

Abstract

Lesions that develop in the maxillofacial region of children and adolescents exhibit varied clinical and pathological characteristics, prevalence, and behavior. Studies have shown that the most common lesions in this age range primarily involve inflammatory and reactive processes, odontogenic and non-odontogenic cysts and benign neoplasms. In Brazil, although some studies have analyzed the prevalence of these lesions, data specific to the state of Paraíba remain scarce in the literature. This study aimed to evaluate the clinicopathological profile of maxillofacial histopathological diagnoses in children and adolescentes. This observational, analytical, and cross-sectional study was based on an analysis of clinical records of children aged 0–9 years and adolescents aged 10–19 years from the Oral Pathology Service at UEPB, covering the period from 2011 to 2025. Patient records of individuals aged between 0 and 19 years that contained information regarding the histopathological diagnosis were included. The study variables were evaluated using descriptive and analytical methods, and the data were analyzed using the Chi-square test. Our results showed that, out of 7,039 histopathological diagnoses, 707 (10.1%) were from individuals aged 0 to 19 years. The 10–19 age group was the most affected (n = 522; 73.8%). Among adolescents, males were slightly more prevalent (n = 270; 51.7%), while among children, females were more frequently affected (n = 99; 53.5%); however, this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.221). Non-white individuals were the most prevalent in both age groups. The soft tissue region was the most commonly affected anatomical site across both groups (n = 419), corresponding to 72.4% (n = 131) in children and 55.8% (n = 288) in adolescents, with a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001). Regarding diagnostic categories, the most prevalent were reactive and inflammatory lesions, odontogenic and non-odontogenic cysts, and benign neoplasms. The most frequent diagnoses within these categories were, respectively, mucus extravasation phenomenon, dentigerous cyst, and papilloma. Agreement between clinical hypotheses and histopathological diagnoses was observed in 58.8% of cases. This study showed that the most affected patient profile consisted of non-white male adolescentes. Mucocele, dentigerou cyst and odontoma were histopathological diagnosis more frequent, moderate agreement was observed between the clinical and histopathological diagnoses. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the histopathological types in children and adolescents, and reinforce the need to encourage the performance of oral biopsies and referrals to Oral Pathology Laboratories.