Clinical characteristics oforal lichen planus patientsin northeastern Iran over aperiod of 13 years

Aim: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a relatively common chronic inflammatory mucocutaneous disease in middle-aged individuals that often affects the oral cavity, and its prevalence has increased in recent years. The aim of this study was, in addition to examining the epidemiological information on OLP, to investigate the referral pattern, the chief complaint of patients, and the clinical manifestations of the diseases in OLP patients in northeastern Iran. Methods: The records of OLP patients referred to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases at the Faculty of Dentistry of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in Iran from 2004 to 2017 were examined. The data were collected from the records by completing a checklist that included age, sex, education, place of residence, location and type of lesion (reticular, papular, plaque-like, atrophic, erosive and bullous), the patient’s main complaint, referral pattern, and referral time. The data were analyzed using SPSS 22 and Chi-squared, Fisher’s exact, and Kendall’s Tau-b tests were used for data comparison. Results: The records of 504 OLP patients were evaluated. 68.3% of the patients were female and 31.7% were male with a mean age of 50.10 ± 13.99 years. 32.3% of the cases were referred by general dentists and 26% by specialist dentists. The most common area of involvement was the buccal mucosa (84.1%) and the most complaint was the burning sensation (59.5%). The patient complaints were significantly associated with the clinical manifestations of erosive and non-erosive lesions (P <0.001). In addition, dysplasia was observed in 4.6% of the patients with biopsy (in subsequent biopsy). Based on the history of treatment, the number of patients with skin involvement was significantly higher than that of patients without skin involvement (P = 0.045). Furthermore, 43.8% of patients with skin involvement referred within 6 to 12 months, which was significantly higher than the number of patients without skin involvement (P = 0.016). Here, the most referrals were made by general dentists and the most common clinical manifestation was erosive (nonkeratotic) lesions. Conclusions: The patient complaints were significantly associated with clinical manifestations, so that pain and burning sensation were more common in patients with erosive lesions. Knowledge of the main complaints and clinical manifestations helps dentists diagnose the disease at an early stage and refer patients to specialists in a timely manner.