Oral Lesions in Soft Tissues

Population-based studies on the prevalence of oral lesions in soft tissues have received more attention nowadays, although the literature about this issue are still scarce, comparing with other topics in dentistry, like caries and periodontal disease. The main contributions of the epidemiological studies of these oral conditions are the detailed description of their characteristics in specific population groups, providing knowledge that will be useful in their prevention, early diagnosis, and appropriate treatment. Most epidemiological studies in oral lesions use convenience samples to study specific population groups, with certain demographic, but few are population-based. Many approaches analyze the oral mucosal lesions (OML) according to their prevalence in different ages, which is convenient, since the occurrence of the oral diseases vary during the life of the individuals, due to the distinct factors that they are exposed. The objectives of this chapter are to discuss about the epidemiology of soft tissues lesions, highlighting the main methodologies in terms of the collection and analysis of OML, to present the main results of the studies on the prevalence of OML in the different age groups, and to point out new possibilities for the use of technologies, such as molecular biology, teledentistry, and others, which can be applied in the service of these epidemiological studies.