AimTo determine the prevalence of various malignant oral lesions in the UAE and correlate cases of squamous cell carcinomas with age, gender, site, grade, clinical presentations at the time of diagnosis, and the prevalence of neck metastasis.Materials and methodsA multicenter, retrospective study was conducted at four major hospitals in the UAE. The study was based on histopathology reports of biopsies of oral tissues.ResultsOf the 992 oral biopsy reports retrieved, 147 cases of malignant tumors were found which accounted for 14.9% of the total biopsies. Fifteen different types of malignant lesions were diagnosed, of which oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) was the most prevalent and made up 11.4% of the overall oral biopsies retrieved. The commonest presentation of cancer was ulceration (31.17%), followed by lumps and white lesions. The most common site where the lesions were diagnosed was the tongue (51.9%), followed by the cheeks and lips. OSCC accounted for 77% of all malignancies reported. Neck dissections were conducted in only 20.8% of all OSCC cases diagnosed at Mafraq and Tawam hospitals, of which 43.75% showed evidence of neck metastasis.ConclusionOral cancer is not an uncommon disease in the UAE. This may mandate more awareness campaigning, including screening procedures for early detection of cancerous lesions and other potentially malignant oral diseases. Elective neck dissections to detect lymph node metastasis should be more routinely performed, in particular for tongue carcinomas because of the early neck involvement potential.

Osteolytic lesions of the jaw are not uncommon. Such lesions usually arise from local pathologies, but some have systemic backgrounds. We describe a 12-year-old girl who presented with an asymptomatic left mandibular swelling. The bony swelling was corresponding to a radiolucent lesion in the left premolar/molar region. This lesion could have represented an inflammatory and developmental odontogenic jaw cyst, giant cell lesion, and odontogenic tumor. However, the workup investigations revealed secondary hyperparathyroidism due to vitamin D deficiency. A vitamin D replacement was initiated with a single I.M. injection of 300,000 I.U followed by 10,000 I.U orally, weekly. Six weeks later, her Vitamin D and parathyroid hormone were normalized, and she showed significant clinical and radiological improvement of the jaw lesion. At 18 months, follow-up the panoramic image revealed complete resolution of the radiolucency and stable normal parathyroid hormone and vitamin D levels. In conclusion, Jaw bone lesions can develop secondary to hyperparathyroidism due to vitamin D deficiency, and this should be ruled out before any surgical intervention. Treatment of such lesions lies in the correction of parathyroid excess with a careful and systematic approach. This may prevent unnecessary surgical intervention in such patients.

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