Prevalence of tongue lesions in Hungarian children

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of tongue lesions in Hungarian children in relation to age, sex, systemic diseases and allergies. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 1017 preschool and school children aged 1-14 years were examined. The age, sex and tongue lesions diagnosed were recorded together with any history of systemic diseases and allergies. RESULTS: Tongue lesions were found in 35.11% of all the children examined. Fissured tongue was the most frequent lesion (29.2%), apparently associated with age and sex. It occurred more commonly in boys, and in older children, than in girls and younger children. Geographic tongue was found in 5.7%, occurred more often in boys, and a relationship existed between fissured and geographic tongue. Among the children with geographic tongue 44.82% also had fissured tongue. These findings agree in general with the epidemiological data reported on population samples elsewhere in the world. Crenated tongue occurred in 0.68%, central papillary atrophy in 0.78%, and partial ankyloglossia in 0.88% of the children examined: confirming the rarity of these lesions. Although there was no obvious correlation with systemic diseases, geographic tongue appeared to be coincident with a history of allergic diathesis in some cases. CONCLUSION: In some cases early recognition of tongue lesions may provide useful diagnostic markers for some diseases.