Oral diseases in the elderly in Finland as judged by biopsy.

A survey of 22,946 oral biopsy specimens indicated the type of oral diseases appearing in the elderly in Finland. Patients were grouped by age: younger individuals (less than 60 years old) and more elderly (60 years old and older). The elderly were further divided into subgroups. In the age groups 60-69 and 70-79, cysts of the jaws and oral soft tissues (31% and 23%), and in the age group 80 years or older lesions of the oral mucosa (29%) were the most frequent findings. Although radicular cyst was the most common single diagnosis in the elderly (18%), its relative frequency was lower than that found in the age group under 60 years (35%). The relative frequency of premalignant and malignant lesions was more than 10-fold that found in younger individuals, and increased in the elderly with advancing age (p less than 0.001).